… Jordan king pledges more support for Nigeria
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday in Jordan, said cooperation among sovereign nations is no longer a choice but a necessity.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the Middle East and North America, he said in this digital age where physical borders no longer exist to protect even the most secured nations, the only way to overcome predatory and divisionary forces was for all well-meaning nations to work together for the greater good of mankind.
“Simply put, cooperation amongst sovereign nations is no longer a choice. It is an absolute necessity. In the last ten years, the world as we knew it has completely changed.
“We have seen and experienced significant shifts on many fronts. In Technology; Population and Migration; Trade and Geopolitics; Climate change; and many more,” he said.
President Buhari said for some nations, the trends have had positive impacts.
“But of course, we have also seen the negative and destructive outcomes of these trends in other countries. It is my view, that no region of the world has felt the full impact of these dramatic shifts and shocks like the Middle East and Africa – North and Sub-Sahara.
“On one hand, our region is blessed with a very young, vibrant, enterprising and dynamic population. We also have valuable natural resources that are the envy of many nations.
“These assets and endowments contributed to our region experiencing some of the highest economic growth rates in the world,” he said.
Buhari added that, “on the other hand however, we have also been hosts to some of the deadliest conflicts in recent history. The deaths, damage and destruction caused by terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, ISIS and Boko Haram over the last ten years will take decades to repair.
“By the special grace of God, today, most of these terrorist organizations have been significantly degraded. The world came together to achieve this. Now, we are faced with the task of rebuilding.
The president said that the lack of social and economic inclusion was the root cause of many challenges facing Nigeria.
“Today, our population is 190 million. By 2050, it is estimated that we hit 390 million making us the third most populous country in the world. This means we must start working now to ensure this population is productively engaged’’.
Meanwhile, the King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, who met with President Buhari, on the sideline of the World Economic Forum, said his country will continue to support Nigeria with hardwares to ensure that the global war against terrorism is successfully prosecuted.
