As Nigeria and Turkey sigh over eight bilateral agreements, Buhari praises Erdogan.

 President Buhari expressed gratitude to Turkey's President and First Lady for establishing the Turkish Cultural Centre in Abuja.

President Muhammadu Buhari praised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday in Abuja for opening his country's borders to millions of refugees in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.

President Buhari stated at a joint press conference on the occasion of the Turkish leader's official visit to Nigeria that his Turkish counterpart has set an example for the rest of the world on how to treat refugees.

"I commend Your Excellency for your leadership and generosity in receiving and housing 4 million refugees fleeing conflict zones, particularly Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan." "You have truly set an example for the rest of the world," Nigeria's president said.

President Buhari described President Erdogan's two-day visit with First Lady Emine Erdogan as a reflection of Nigeria and Turkey's "robust, warm, and cordial bilateral relationship."

He said it was his second time having "the pleasure of receiving my Brother in Abuja."

President Buhari stated the following about the visit's accomplishments:

"During the visit, we had very useful discussions on a number of bilateral issues aimed at strengthening Nigeria and Turkey's cordial relationship."

"Among the key issues we discussed were a number of finalized bilateral agreements and memorandums of understanding.

As a result, eight major agreements/memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on a variety of key sectors, including Energy, Defense Industry, Mining, and HydroCarbons, among others, were signed today. We have agreed that implementation should begin right away.

During our discussions, we also reviewed the travel ban list in light of the revised COVID-19 protocols, and Turkey was removed from Nigeria's Travel Ban List. Turkey has had remarkable success in combating the COVID-19 pandemic."

President Buhari stated that President Erdogan's meeting with a Joint Session of the Nigerian and Turkish Chambers of Commerce and Industry before departing Nigeria would be another opportunity to engage and exchange views on more productive ways of advancing the two countries' socioeconomic ties.

He thanked the Turkish President and First Lady for commissioning the Turkish Cultural Centre in Abuja, as well as the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency for reopening the newly renovated Government Secondary School in Wuse, Abuja (TIIKA).

President Erdogan emphasized in his remarks that Turkey was determined to improve relations with Nigeria to "higher levels in all fields."

He stated that trade volume between the two countries would reach $2 billion in 2020, making Nigeria the outstanding and largest trading partner in Sub-Saharan Africa.

"However, we continue to believe that the level of trade we have achieved is insufficient. We hope and pray that we will be able to immediately increase our trade volume to $5 billion.

''We hope that relations between the two countries will be further developed on the basis of a win-win scenario and mutual respect,' said the President, speaking through an interpreter

Complimenting Nigeria on the attack in Goronyo Local Government Area of Sokoto State, which claimed several lives, the Turkish leader pledged that his country would continue to cooperate with Nigeria on counter-terrorism as well as military, defense, and security issues.

"We are ready to share our ever-expanding capabilities with Nigeria, particularly in the defense industry and security, which has been praised around the world."

"I hope that our Nigerian brothers, sisters, and counterparts will reciprocate the sensitivity that we have demonstrated in combating terrorism," he said.

The Turkish President announced that his country's diplomatic presence in Africa has increased to 43 missions, and that the third round of the Turkish-African business forum will be held in Istanbul in October, followed by the third Turkish-African partnership summit in December.

President Erdogan expressed his delight that many Nigerian students are currently studying in Turkey on scholarships.

Femi Adesina, Special Assistant

President's Chief of Staff

(Publicity & Media)

20th of October, 2021