Confusion over Merkel’s ‘Lake Chad pledge’

There is confusion over the pledge of Angela Merkel, German chancellor, to “invest €18billion in the development of Lake Chad Basin region and €50billion in the overall development of the area”.

While the above figures were stated in a release by Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, the claims have been put into doubt.

Shehu had released a statement saying Merkel made the pledge during a joint press conference after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, who had sought the assistance of the German government in intelligence gathering and training to tackle militancy in the Niger Delta region.

Buhari had been a vociferous campaigner for the rehabilitation of the Lake Chag region. When he received Irina Bokova, director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Abuja in August, he appealed to developed nations to save Lake Chad from extinction as a result of the adverse effects of climate change.

“Those living in the Lake Chad region have suffered untold hardship and displacement because of the violence perpetrated by Boko Haram terrorists,” he had said.

“If there is no farming and fishing, they will dare the desert to migrate. Unless the developed countries make concerted efforts to complete the feasibility study, mobilise resources and technology to start the water transfer from the Congo Basin, Lake Chad will dry up.

“The people will go somewhere and they will create problems for those countries.”

On Friday, Shehu said Merkel agreed that the Lake Chad region was of great priority to Germany, especially as Nigeria is a part of it.

“In terms of cooperation, we said we will earmark 18 billion for lake chad region area and 50 billion for the overall areas,” Merkel was quoted as saying.

“The Lake Chad region is in alarming situation; there are 11 million people displaced. Some of them are starving there; only 10 per cent of the Lake Chad left, which obviously erodes source of livelihood.

“The president has in his delegation the governor whose province is ravaged by Boko Haram; we are gratified to note that there have been progress in combating them.”

Merkel was also reported to have lamented the complicated situation in Nigeria, due to issues like falling crude oil prices, unemployment and agitation in the Niger Delta.

She also talked about the migration partnership with the European Union, saying the EU want to negotiate migration with Nigeria.

“My point in this is that we need to see to it that human traffickers are out of business,” she was quoted as saying.”

“We have to strengthen legal migration to also create jobs in Nigeria, jobs possibilities for vocational training, possibilities in education. Also in the context of migration partnership, we will also talk about readmission agreement.

“Germany has hundreds of people who will have to be returned to Nigeria and our first interest will be how to help the young people to get job or fine a job.”

However, Dominic Johnson, foreign editor and Africa editor of German newspaper TAZ, dismissed the figures, saying the pledge was €18million — not €18billion.

“Merkel pledged 18million, not billion,” he said. “And it was for humanitarian aid.”

A source at the presidency, who did not want to be named, accepted liability for the confusion, saying it may have been caused by the transcription.

This was in consonance with Johnson’s clarification to TheCable: “I was at the press conference by the way. So I know it was millions and the German transcript is correct.

“‘Billions’ in German is ‘Milliarden’, which sounds quite different. Perhaps the simultaneous translation was difficult to understand, no idea. But an official speaker should check his numbers.”