Afrigather Doha, Qatar — Israel should cease its struggle on Gaza, and the world must drop its “double requirements” over the killings within the besieged enclave, Nigeria’s Overseas Minister Yusuf Tuggar instructed Al Jazeera.
Tuggar was visiting Qatar as a part of a delegation led by Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Nigeria and Qatar signed a sequence of memorandums of understanding and mentioned potential collaboration in sectors similar to vitality, commerce, labour, agriculture and extra.
The go to got here at a time when Nigeria faces mounting financial and social challenges with armed assaults proliferating and an inflation price at 30 p.c.
But Nigeria, with a inhabitants of greater than 200 million folks and Africa’s largest financial system, can be eyeing a larger position in regional and international affairs.
Tinubu leads the 15-member Financial Group of West African States (ECOWAS) established in 1975. The bloc faces an unsure future with Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso saying in late January they’re quitting the regional grouping.
Al Jazeera sat down with Tuggar in Doha to study extra about what the federal government has in retailer for Africa’s largest financial system.
Al Jazeera: Over the previous week, there have been many conferences between Qatari and Nigerian officers. What are a few of the key agreements and partnerships which were made?
Yusuf Tuggar: Qatar has this Arabic idea of the phrase “irth” which is legacy, or inheritance. Nigeria is right here to forge a standard irth, legacy, inheritance with Qatar. They’re each main gasoline producers and in the event that they work intently collectively, they’ll set up or develop additional their market share.
We have now cargo planes that go to Nigeria and are available again empty. They take electronics and all kinds of different stuff from Qatar to Nigeria. They are often stuffed with agricultural produce as a result of we’ve got 12 large river basin improvement authorities that we invested in throughout the oil increase within the Nineteen Seventies, with dams prepared for irrigation. Nigeria produces quite a lot of pineapple, quite a lot of mangoes that may be readily exported to Qatar.
There are such a lot of alternatives. We wish to see a few of the huge gamers right here going to Nigeria and doing enterprise. We’ve already signed a number of MOUs (memorandums of understanding). Even right this moment, we signed MOUs on labour as a result of we’ve got large human assets that Qatar can put to good use that we will apply to the medical sector and several other others. The sky’s the restrict.
After which after all, Qatar can be sturdy in companies, airports. We have now so many airports which can be in existence which can be underutilised that may be turned readily into cargo airports. We’ve bought ports, we want extra ports to be developed.
Al Jazeera: What are a few of the upcoming gasoline tasks?
Tuggar: There are a number of ongoing gasoline tasks in Nigeria that we hope Qatar can spend money on. We have now so many alternatives for floating LNG tasks. We’ve bought an LNG plant that has run out of gasoline that’s proper subsequent to us in Equatorial Guinea. All it wants is a pipeline, to pipe Nigerian gasoline to Equatorial Guinea and Bob’s your uncle. That is one thing that Qatar can benefit from.
We have now a Nigeria-Morocco gasoline pipeline that’s within the making to produce 15 African international locations with gasoline and it will probably go on to Europe. I do know Europe is seeking to part out gasoline however let’s work with the truth. The truth proper now could be that gasoline continues to be in demand.
We have now a trans-Saharan gasoline pipeline. The leg of the pipeline inside Nigeria has gone very far, it’s nearly accomplished and it’s presupposed to ship gasoline all the way in which to Algeria. And also you throw in Algerian gasoline and it will probably go all the way in which into Europe. These are all tasks which can be ongoing that Qatar will be part of in terms of gasoline.
However we’re not simply gasoline, we’re agriculture, the well being sector. All of the related ministers are right here; we’re metals refining for uncommon earths; Nigeria is wealthy in lithium. That is one thing that may be taken benefit of.
Al Jazeera: Concerning the most important battle on the earth proper now, in Gaza greater than 30,000 folks have been killed. What are your ideas on this?
Tuggar: There is no such thing as a justification for the carnage that is happening in Gaza. It has to cease. There is no such thing as a justification for the whole disregard for the proportionality of drive that’s being meted out on harmless civilians, on children on kids, on infants on ladies.
Nigeria has been according to its help for a two-state answer. The state of Palestine has each proper to exist as an unbiased sovereign nation, the identical manner that Israel has a proper to exist as an unbiased sovereign nation.
However this carnage is totally out of hand and completely unacceptable. There is no such thing as a approach to clarify the double requirements; it has to cease.
Al Jazeera: Concerning the struggle in Ukraine, the US and EU have been pressuring different international locations to hitch in on sanctions towards Russia. Nigeria has maintained a impartial, non-aligned stance. How troublesome or straightforward has it been to keep up this stance?
Tuggar: [The non-aligned stance] has been the coverage of the state of Nigeria since its inception, because it was created in 1960. Nigeria was a part of the non-aligned motion and has remained so and in the intervening time we’re at present training what’s now known as strategic autonomy.
We get together with all international locations, and we’re not the one nation that has that coverage. Nigeria has at all times been an unbiased sovereign nation. So we’re not compelled to comply with another nation’s lead. We do what is true for our folks, what’s within the curiosity of our folks.
We get alongside famously with each of them [the US and Russia]. Additionally they don’t have an issue with us being autonomous, being an unbiased nation, with the liberty to keep up relations with all nations.
Al Jazeera: Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have introduced they’re leaving ECOWAS. Is there perhaps a have to reinvent ECOWAS in any manner?
Tuggar: No, there isn’t. There’s a course of [for leaving] and it takes a couple of yr. It’s one factor to pronounce that you just’ve left, it’s one other to actually disengage from ECOWAS itself as a result of each citizen of ECOWAS carries a passport. (An ECOWAS passport ensures visa-free journey inside the bloc). We’re ready to see in the event that they’re even going to print the passports which goes to value tens of millions of {dollars}.
We’re speaking about 30 p.c of, let’s say, Cote d’Ivoire, coming from Burkina Faso, and Mali, which suggests they would wish new residencies or they should depart Cote d’Ivoire and the identical factor with Nigeriens in Nigeria, in a number of different locations. So it’s not so simple as it’s made out to be. The method of them leaving takes much more than only a easy pronouncement and there are particular procedures that should be adopted.
ECOWAS has proven clearly that there’s no bellicosity in direction of these international locations as a result of sanctions have been eliminated out of humanitarian concerns. Fasting throughout Ramadan is arising, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, because the Chairman of ECOWAS, heads of state and authorities pushed for the removing of sanctions. The ECOWAS leaders endorsed it and the sanctions have been eliminated, borders have been opened.
There’s no compulsion within the membership of ECOWAS, it’s as much as the regimes in these international locations to decide. ECOWAS is a union of a group of individuals and the emphasis is on the group, on the folks, on the residents.
Al Jazeera: In Nigeria, between 40 and 45 p.c of the inhabitants lives under the poverty line. How does the federal government plan for financial development and to deal with the difficulty of poverty?
Tuggar: We’re speaking about 300,000 coaching centres throughout the nation. We’re speaking huge exponential job creation by ICT, info expertise that’s taking place. we’re speaking about offering fast-speed web to the youth. We’re speaking about enterprise course of outsourcing.
So these are all quite a lot of the alternatives however even earlier than that, there’s a social funding programme that’s ongoing, that gives on to the poorest part of Nigeria as a result of we will’t wait till the roles are created. There’s a direct authorities intervention that has been occurring so these are a few of the measures which can be being taken in direction of addressing this.
Al Jazeera: The nation is seeing an exodus of youth going overseas for alternatives. What can be the implications for Nigeria to seeing all this youth depart?
Tuggar: We have now what we check with because the 4Ds in my Ministry of Overseas Affairs – That’s democracy improvement, demography and diaspora. And the fourth D, the diaspora, is the place we glance to have interaction different international locations which can be in demand of our human assets, get them to spend money on sure sectors in order that we can prepare sufficient expert staff for each ourselves and the nation that’s demanding for that.
So docs, nurses, and in the intervening time you truly even have Nigeria supplying software program engineers to locations like Lithuania.
We have to do it in a structured manner. We’re not saying that Nigerians can’t go overseas to work. By all means they need to. However on the identical time, for each nurse that goes overseas, we wish to have the ability to create many extra in Nigeria that will cater for our wants. We have to accomplice with international locations which can be ready to spend money on these sectors.
Al Jazeera: We’re seeing unprecedented inflation; Nigerians are combating the prices. The costs of meals and transport have greater than tripled since President Tinubu took over and eliminated the gasoline subsidy, although he promised to ease an already unhealthy scenario. What are your ideas on this? Has he did not ship on his promise one yr in?
Tuggar: He actually hasn’t. That is one thing that was anticipated. This is among the penalties and, sadly, we’re feeling it much more as a result of we delayed for therefore a few years, subsidy removing.
This can be a kind of bitter capsule that Nigeria has to take however there are different measures which can be being taken to function palliatives for the scenario that we’re dealing with.
You could have to keep in mind additionally that Nigeria shouldn’t be the one nation that’s dealing with these financial challenges; it’s nearly international. Inflation is one thing that quite a lot of international locations are dealing with, however we’ve got to chunk the bullet and do what is true now, for the long run.
We’re persevering with to complement and issues are getting higher. Our crude oil manufacturing has gone up, so has our gasoline manufacturing by LNG. We’re going to be feeling the results of a spike in overseas alternate earnings, which might serve to ameliorate the scenario and we’re plugging all of the leakages in our financial system.
Al Jazeera: There’s additionally been a surge in kidnappings throughout the nation as effectively. Does the federal government bear any accountability for this?
Tuggar: The federal government is at all times there to deal with the challenges.
On the identical time, there are such a lot of measures being taken to deal with these by the three totally different tiers of presidency. As a result of you’ve gotten to keep in mind additionally that the accountability shouldn’t be merely on the federal authorities, the federal government on the centre.
Nigeria’s structure prescribes guidelines for the three tiers. So that you’ve bought the federal authorities headed by Mr President, you’ve bought state governments headed by governors and then you definitely’ve bought native authorities. We have now 774 native authorities areas which can be below state governments they usually must be working in order that accountability for them to work and work effectively rests squarely on the state governors and the state governments.
