File photo: President Buhari meets with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, on the margins of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Riyadh on Thursday, October 31, 2019
September 7, 2021
President Muhammadu Buhari says the oil rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia has has been quite kind to Nigeria, making sacrifices many times to ease economic pain of Nigeria.
Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s spokesman in a statement said the president disclosed this when he hosted the Saudi Arabian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Faisal Al-Saud on Tuesday in Abuja.
President Buhari observed that with Nigeria’s large population and infrastructure deficit, the country needed all the revenue she could get from oil, a mainstay of the economy, “and Saudi Arabia has been very kind to us, making sacrifice by reducing production to accommodate us a number of times.”
According to the Nigerian leader, the relationship between the two countries is very strong, “and dates back in time, both at the personal and national levels.”
“It is long and steadfast,’’ the president added.
In his remarks, Prince Al-Saud said he brought greetings from King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, saying “Saudi Arabia appreciates the relationship with Nigeria, which dates back 61 years, and we want to strengthen it even further.”
The two countries, he said, had good prospects both economically and politically, not just among the leaders, but also the people.
“There’s still a lot we can do together,” he added.
