At Turkey summit, Buhari seeks support to tackle terrorism in Nigeria

President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking help to defeat terrorism and insurgency in Nigeria.

Speaking at the third edition of Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit in Istanbul on Saturday, Buhari said Boko Haram has been degraded but it is still preying on “soft targets”.

The president expressed happiness that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his Turkish counterpart, has given consideration to the issue of terrorism and is still focusing on the development of infrastructure in Africa.

“Another area this partnership must focus on is the global challenge of climate change which is impacting us in Nigeria, Turkey, across Africa, and indeed across the world,” Buhari said.

“It has become a catalyst for conflict through food insecurity, drying up of lakes; loss of livelihood and youth migration, among others.

“The trend is the same around the world where communities are overwhelmed by forest fires, rising sea levels, flood, drought and desertification.

“I want to seize this opportunity to appeal for support for initiatives such as Africa’s Great Green Wall on Environment and Land Management, which is designed to fight the effects of climate change and desertification in Africa.

“The initiative aims to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land in the 11 countries of the Sahel-Sahara strip, capture 250 million tons of carbon and create 10 million green jobs by 2030.”

The president said the way Turkey and Africa have handled the COVID-19 pandemic is an example to the world.

“The pandemic is a global challenge which calls for global solidarity and solutions and the Africa-Turkey cooperation model has proved to be an example to the world,” he said.

“Not only has there been mutual support to respond to the pandemic but also mutual support to build resilience and sustainable development in other sectors.

“We also commend the African Union for the excellent role it has been playing in coordinating the implementation process of the partnership.”

The Nigerian leader said knowledge that will help African countries address challenges should be shared.

“In this regard, Nigeria strongly endorses the Summit Declaration as well as the 2022-2026 Joint Action Plan,” he said.

“We are confident that given the level of openness, trust and commitment manifested in the Africa–Turkey Partnership, this cooperation mechanism will be a game-changer for our countries and set us on the path of sustainable development for our peoples.”