… As Nigeria, UAE set to partner on renewable energy, agriculture, others***
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Friday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, received Dr Mari Pangestu, World Bank Managing Director of Development, Policy and Partnerships.
Osinbajo’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, who spoke with State House correspondents after the meeting, said it was Pangestu’s first visit to Nigeria.
Akande added that it was her first country visit outside of Washington DC since she was appointed in March.
The spokesman said the duo discussed a number of issues especially around climate change and energy access.
“Of course, she gave a brief to the vice president talking about climate change, some of the outcomes of COP26.
“The vice president stated some of the things that President Muhammadu Buhari said especially the fact that Nigeria could likely meet the target by 2050, but more realistically; 2060.
“The vice president restated that in Nigeria, as in other developing countries, there are challenges of climate change but there are also challenges of energy access,’’ Akande said.
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He said Osinbajo expressed concern that as Nigeria and other developing countries were dealing with climate change, they were also dealing with the critical issue of energy access.
Akande said the World Bank managing director agreed that the international community would take that kind of dual strategy to deal with the issue.
He said that Pangestu also implied in her comments that developing countries needed assistance in the transition to net zero-emission.
“She also mentioned the fact that that issue of the help that developing countries require in order to attain net zero-emission is quite important,’’ Akande said.
President Buhari, had on Nov.2, while addressing the COP26, Leaders’ Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, pledged that Nigeria would cut its emissions to net-zero by 2060.
In another development, President Muhammadu Buhari has welcomed the offer by the United Arab Emirate (UAE) to partner with Nigeria in the areas of renewable energy, agriculture, infrastructure logistics.
The partnership also includes the provision of vaccines to further control the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Femi Adesina, the president’s spokesman in a statement, said Buhari expressed his feelings at a meeting with Minister of State Foreign Affairs of UAE, Sheikh Shakboot Alnahyan, on Friday at the sidelines of the Paris Peace Forum in Paris, France.
The Nigerian leader used the opportunity to encourage Nigerians in Diaspora to “subject themselves to the rules and standards of the country in which they live either as working class, or doing businesses.”
He described his countrymen and women as “competitive both at home and abroad,” and urged them to always abide by the rules of their host countries.
“Nigerians are all over the place, very competitive. And the competitiveness starts from home, where they have acquired a good education, gone into businesses, and then take all that abroad,” he said.
In his remarks, Alnahyan said his country “thinks very highly “of President Buhari’s leadership, noting that he was striving to “build a better future for generations to come.”
He said there were lots of Nigerians in his country, “who add much value,” assuring that the headwinds of the recent past in the relationship “are now behind us.
“We want to secure, deepen and strengthen the association for the future. We have a lot in common. We may be taking small steps, but they are leading somewhere.”
On proposed investments in Nigeria, Alnahyan said it would be a win-win situation, “which would bring hope and opportunities for people in both countries.
“We want to come and add quality and value.”
He equally commended the Nigerian government for its robust tackling of violent extremism.