Stories by Musa Adamu
Abuja
The Minister/ Deputy Chairman of National Planning Commission (NPC), Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman, has tasked the European Union (EU) to ensure its envoys join in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria, which he described as a global problem requiring a global action.
The minister gave the charge in Abuja yesterday when he received a delegation of the EU on a courtesy visit led by Michael Arrion.
‘’ Terrorism is a global problem that requires global action. The one in Nigeria is not an exception. I urge you to en join your envoys to join in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria,’’he said.
He however, lauded France’s effort in the fight against terrorism in the sub- region and the country.
He said France was not only just a European country but an ‘African’ one because of her activities in the fight against terrorism in Africa which had complemented what the ECOWAS was doing.
He also called for capacity building for the Nigerian military from the EU as well as technology transfer to assist the nation’s military in the fight against terrorism in the country.
He disclosed that Nigeria would soon come out with an aid policy to guide development partners for better coordination of their activities in Nigeria.
He further appealed to the EU to support the Nigerian Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP), a 30-year development infrastructure road map,which he assured, would fix the nation’s infrastructure.
He said the plan would also help the country in its aspirations of becoming one of the top leading economies come year 2020.
In his remarks, Michael Arrion informed that the EU was already offering support to the office of the National Security Adviser ( NSA) in the area of security, and had held meeting on terrorism in the sub–region.
On the issue of infrastructure, he said the European Investment Banks (EIB) were offering long term loans, expected to leverage on the grants they were providing in that regard also.
He pointed out that they were ready to finance feasibility study in the area of energy, transport and ICT, which he described as top priority for the EU.
He said the EU had a long term tradition of funding election process in the Nigeria, covering areas such as election awareness, improving skills of voters, civil education, and voters’ education designed to improve the election process.
‘’Nigeria is a special country. You have your budget. We have a long term tradition of funding election process in Nigeria. We fund awareness of the election, improving skills of voters, civil education and voters education for the improvement of the election process,” he said.
