President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged Nigeria’s continued support for
Libya’s quest to regain political and security stability.
”We will do our best to help Libya stabilise,” the President told the
Head of Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez Al-Sarraj, at
a bilateral meeting on the margins of the AU Summit in Niamey, Niger
Republic, on Sunday.
The President who discussed recent developments in the North African
country as well as bilateral issues between Nigeria and Libya with Mr.
Al-Sarraj noted that there were over 6000 Nigerians in Libya, who see
Libya as a gateway to Europe.
President Buhari said the humanitarian crisis arising from insurgency
and the drying up of Lake Chad, which has affected over 30 million
people in the region who depend on the Lake for farming, fishing and
animal husbandry has forced some Nigerians to defy the desert to make
perilous journeys across the Mediterranean and the Sahara Desert to
Europe.
Also, in a separate audience with UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina
Mohammed, President Buhari stressed the role the international community
needed to play in recharging the Lake, noting that the financial cost
was beyond the affected countries.
The President decried the menace of terrorism in the Sahel countries,
noting that the instability in Libya has been a negative force on the
Sahel.
The Head of Libya’s GNA told the President that there had been a lot of
deaths and injuries in his country, pledging however that his government
was determined to put an end to the situation.
”The aggression must stop. The solution is not military alone we also
believe in diplomacy. We are also victims of terrorism, just like
Nigeria,” he said.
Al-Sarraj declared that Libya contributed a lot to the establishment and
survival of the AU, adding that it was now time for Africa to
reciprocate.
On her part, the Deputy Secretary-General told the President that
growing security challenges in Africa were adversely affecting
development and undermining the attainment of Sustaining Development
Goals (SDGs).
She said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will host the SDGs Summit
during the high-level week of the 74th Session of the General Assembly
in September, and will use the occasion to call for a road map for a
decade of delivery of the sustainable development targets.
The Deputy Secretary-General also congratulated President Buhari for
signing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement at
the AU Summit in Niamey, saying ”the entire world was waiting for
Nigeria.”