By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
ABUJA – The Spanish Ambassador to
Nigeria, Alfonso Sebastian de Erice yesterday said that the Spanish government
has been a closed ally of Nigeria and spent £6.5 billion to import oil and gas
from the country in 2014.
The Spanish Ambassador who disclosed
this when he paid a courtesy visit to the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Yakubu Dogara in Abuja also disclosed that Spain has signed a
Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the country and relevant agencies on the
training of security personnel and anti-terrorism.
Erice further informed the Speaker that
his country was ready to partner with Nigeria in providing necessary assistance
in the transformation of the existing refineries as part of efforts to boost
local production of crude oil.
While commending the bilateral
relations existing between Spain and Nigeria, he expressed his country’s
readiness to partner Nigeria in the area of agricultural development.
According to him, “Spain is one of
the partners of Nigeria, the first or the second best client. We buy £6.5
billion of oil and gas. Yes we are very happy with the exchanges that we have,
we need the oil but we want to diversify because we think it’s very important
that our economic relations do not be only in gas and petrol, we have to
diversify.
“We want to cooperate with you in
agriculture, we have very good agricultural industry, we have comparative
advantage in tourism, manufacturing, you have people who are very well
prepared. We have several treaties that allow us to work here. It’s a domain
that we will have to explore. For us the oil business is important because we
need it but we want to diversity and I know that Nigerian authorities also want
to diversify.”
Responding, the Speaker, Yakubu
Dogara, appreciated efforts of the Spanish government in its support for the
development of tourism, mineral resources and other sectors that could provide
employment for the teeming population of the country country.
In another development, the Speaker
has urged the Cross River State caucus and other lawmakers to shun personal
interests in the efforts to make Nigeria a great country through good
legislations.
Speaking when the Cross River State
caucus in the House of Representatives led by Rep Essien Ayi visited him
yesterday, he appealed to the lawmakers to compensate those who suffered during
the electioneering campaign by promoting pro-people agenda such as employment
generation and security of lives and property.
He assured them that the lingering
crisis in the House would be resolved as soon as possible and also pledged the
commitment of the leadership of the House towards the implementation of the
legislative agenda on resumption from recess.
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