Mr. Ajuri Ngelale, Senior Special
Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Public Matters, says Nigerians are
benefitting from the goodwill of the President.
Ngelale said this in an interview
with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja while speaking on the impact of
the President’s foreign trips.
He said Buhari’s foreign trips
have been productive as other nations now described the President as an
incorruptible and credible leader.
Ngelale expressed optimism that
President Buhari’s trips would yield positive results in the form of a stronger
national economy by virtue of the bilateral agreements he signed Nigeria into.
“Those trips have been extremely
productive.
“We are now benefiting from the
goodwill of the president largely because of the fact that the world knows that
this is an incorruptible leader – a leader with credibility and integrity.
“And Nigerians are now benefiting
from that,” he said.
“President Muhammadu Buhari’s
excursions to the Russian Federation and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have been
very much in the interest of the country.
“I say that because when you look
at the deliverables from those trips, you will realize the extent to which
those trips have now added value to our nation’s economy.
“Specifically, we are really
excited about the Russian trip because we had a lot of series of negotiations
that culminated in agreements that we have now signed bilaterally which are all
government-to-government transactions,” he said.
The presidential aide said that
some of the sectors that would directly benefit from the bilateral agreements
are solid minerals development, transport, iron ore mining, and defence.
In the solid minerals sector, the
Ajaokuta Steel Company will be resuscitated via a one-billion-dollar facility
that would be shared by the Russian Federation, the Nigerian government, and
the Afrexim Bank.
According to him, in doing so,
Nigeria will be able to revitalise the steel complex and stop the importation
of steel.
“We seek to industrialise our
country and employ our people and lift our people out of poverty.
“We’ll finally be able to produce
our own steel,” he said.
According to Ngelale, an
agreement struck with the Russian government will see that country supplying
Nigeria with 12 M1-35 attack helicopters which will be used in tackling
security challenges confronting the country.
“These are heavily weaponized,
very stealthy, very fast attack-helicopters which will make a difference in
terms of anti-piracy.
“We are going to be getting some
physical infrastructure from them in terms of gunboats, gunships, and things that
will help secure our maritime territory, our coastal waters.
“We are going to be building
train cars in Nigeria thereby decongesting the ports, and taking the pressure
off the roads,” he said.
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