Royal Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia(KSA) in Nigeria, Faisal bin Ebraheem Alghamdi, has put the volume of trade between the country and Nigeria at more than $600million.
He also said the Kingdom has given more than 200 scholarships to Nigerian students to study in different universities across the KSA.
Alghamdi made the disclosures Monday evening in Abuja during the celebration of the KSA’s 93rd independence anniversary.
The event had in attendance former governors of Sokoto state, Senator Magatakarda Wamakko, his Niger counterpart, Senator Abubakar Sani Bello and that of Kaduna state, Malam Nasir El-Rufai.
Also in attendance were some government officials, heads of diplomatic missions and international organisations as well as businessmen among others.
Speaking at the event, Alghamdi said “the Kingdom is celebrating 93 years of unifying parts of the Kingdom by King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud -May Allah rest his soul- under one strong entity built on tolerant Islamic creed in which equality, justice and confidence prevails, and as the first fixed-line model in the modern era of Middle East.”
He also described “the historic relations between the Kingdom and Nigeria as firm and growing since the inception of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1961. Wishing the best of luck and success to His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
The envoy further said, “More than 200,000 Nigerian pilgrim, mu’tamir and visitors visited the Kingdom last year, and the Kingdom has given more than 200 scholarships to Nigerian students to studies in different Kingdom’s universities. He added that the trade volume between the two countries is more than $600m.”
On the humanitarian aid to Nigeria, he said: “The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud – May Allah protect him- has given directives to execute Nur-Saudi Voluntary Campaign in Nigeria, which will be implemented in stage; the first stage had been executed which targeted combatting blindness and its causes, while a number of open-heart and urology surgeries had been performed as well.”
The Ambassador congratulated parents of Nigeria’s conjoined twins successfully separated in the Kingdom last May, via “surgery no 56 performed by the Kingdom in separating conjoined twins from across the world.”
He commended the brotherly and friendly countries including Nigeria, for their support to the Kingdom’s bid to host World Expo 2030 in Riyadh, which coincided with the targeted date of the Saudi Vision 2030.
