LEADERS of Nigeria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have expressed
commitment to a"stable oil market" and a "rebound of oil price."
At a bilateral meeting between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia in Riyadh
hosted by the ruler King Salman Bin Abdul-Aziz, the two leaders
accepted the fact that their two economies are tied to oil and that all
cannot be well with both countries when then the world oil market is
unstable. They therefore committed themselves to doing all that is
possible to stabilize the market and rebound the oil price.
The two leaders who engaged in extensive discussions on regional
and global issues also agreed that terrorism posed a common threat
to their states and would require close cooperation to prevail over the
threats.
President Muhammadu Buhari who was making his first
pronouncement on the invitation to join the coalition of Islamic states
against terror spearheaded by the Saudis congratulated the Kingdom
on its formation.
"Even if we are not a part of it, we support you. I must thank the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the recent creation of a coalition to
address the menace of international terrorism. Nigeria will support
your efforts in keeping peace and stopping the spread of terror in your
region. This is in consonance with our own commitment and on-going
efforts in seeking to stamp out Boko Haram terrorists from the West
African sub-region and Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC)," the
President said.
Speaking on global terror generally, President Buhari said that
"international terrorism made a statement by attacking one of the
advanced countries by carrying out an attack on Paris in which 130
were killed. Now we have to come together to find a common solution
to the problem of terrorism."
He thanked the Saudi government for it continuing support to Nigeria
in the fight against terrorism.
Turning to the menace that Libya has turned into, President Buhari
regretted that the late Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi recruited,
trained and armed citizens of many states in the Sahel region. With
his fall, these mercenaries have returned to their countries, "doing
nothing but to shoot and kill." He cited Burkina Faso and Mali as the
main victims but expressed happiness that the countries neighboring
the Lake Chad have tightened their ranks to finish off the Boko Haram
threat.
"Luckily, we have cultivated our neighbors. We are now working
together against Boko Haram,otherwise the problem would have
become worse."
He and King Salman hoped that the Libyan factions will soon see
reason to reunite and restore fully their own country so as to save the
world from further terrorism spin-offs from that country.
The leaders also focused on trade between their states and agreed to
give fresh impetus to the joint commission previously established in
order to boost commercial and other activities to unify their peoples.
In his remarks, King Salman commended the progress made by
Nigeria in combating terrorism and promised to give further support
and assistance.
He welcomed the support of the Nigerian government for the new ant-
terrorism coalition and implored the President to consider its full
membership.
King Salman pledged his full support and cooperation to Nigeria
under its present leadership and directed all agencies of his
government to follow up on the discussions.
"I now instruct my team to go and sit down with your relevant
agencies to push forward cooperation between our states," the King
concluded
source garba sheu
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