President Muhammadu Buhari appealed for Qatari investments in the petroleum, power, aviation, and rail sectors as major areas of importance as he hosted the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-thani Tuesday, at Aso Villa.
“We invite you to invest in our refineries, pipelines, power sector, aviation, agriculture, education, and many others, so that you can have your management here to oversee the investment. We need your expertise,” President Buhari said.
Also on the front burner was the recharge of Lake Chad with water from the Congo Basin, so as to grant succor to the more than 30 million people adversely affected by the receding of the lake over the years. The president disclosed that over half of the 30 million people affected were in Nigeria, and it has contributed greatly to illegal migration, as many youths who see no future in the area, embark on the perilous journey across the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea to seek greener pastures abroad in Europe. A large number die in the process.
“We need help with the recharge of Lake Chad, as it is not a project that the concerned countries can handle alone,” Buhari said, adding: “Recharging the lake will bring back fishing, farming, animal husbandry, and the youths won’t be attracted by insurgency or illegal migration. We want Qatar to be involved because of the humanitarian nature of the endeavor.”
Sheikh Hamad Al-thani said he was honored and happy to be in Nigeria for the first time, stressing it was a reciprocal visit to the one paid to Qatar in 2016 by President Buhari. “The relationship between our countries is very good. We just have to build on it,” the emir said.
“We share a lot of similarities in different areas. We need to enhance bilateral trade and economic cooperation. We are willing to do a lot more with Nigeria, and will continue to work on investment opportunities of mutual benefit,” he added.
