President Muhammadu Buhari visited the Netherlands to hold talks with the Prime Minister Mark Rutte on various matters affecting both nations.
The Nation heads spoke on issues relating to the fight against insurgency in the North East, climate change, economic cooperation, the fight against corruption.
“President Buhari also expressed the firm commitment of his administration to recover more stolen funds and assets of the country stashed abroad and looked forward to working closely with the Netherlands on this,” said a statement on the visit by Buhari’s media aide, Femi Adesina.
Rutte on his part pledged support for Nigeria in its battle against Boko Haram and other elements of insurgency in the North-East.
Also on the topic of climate change, the topic of the shrinkage of the Lake Chad was brought up with President Buhari pointing out the impact on the economy of the communities living in the area.
The Nigerian President then used the opportunity to stress the need for workable solutions to restore the Lake Chad, including the inter-basin water transfer project from Ubangi River in Central Africa to the Lake.
To this end, Buhari expressed delight that the Netherlands is willing to establishing a technical committee to work with a Nigerian team to figure out a sustainable solution to the Lake Chad situation.
Also, the President reiterated the commitment of his administration to recover stolen funds by past administrations which had been stashed abroad and requested the help of the Netherlands on this particular project.
In terms of the economy of Nigeria, Rutte was full of praise for Buhari on the growth of the Nigerian economy including the nation’s rising profile on World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business.
It was an amicable meeting and the talks were successful, but it wasn’t all rosy as members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) were on hand to stage protest against President Buhari
You can check out photos of the visit below
