Nigeria\u2019s President Muhammadu Buhari is in Paris attending the four-day African Finance Summit, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron.<\/p>\n
The summit is expected to focus on reviewing the African economy, following the COVID-19 pandemic, and getting relief, especially from the increased debt burden on countries, said Bashir Ahmad, an aide to the president.<\/p>\n
The two leaders will discuss political relations, economic ties, climate change and a partnership in buoying the health sector, particularly in checking the spread of COVID-19, with more research and vaccines.<\/p>\n
They are also expected to discuss growing security threats in the Sahel and Lake Chad region.<\/p>\n
Yafalmata Modu, a resident of Mafoni in Maiduguri, was sceptical, saying that Buhari had travelled extensively abroad several times but nothing concrete had come out of the meetings.<\/p>\n
However she was hopeful that the summit would result in positive proposals that would improve the country\u2019s economy, especially as Nigerians were experiencing much hardship during pandemic.<\/p>\n
Zara Alkali Umar, a resident of Damboa, said the president appeared to be taking positive action, but she believed he lacked \u201cthe spirit of supervision\u201d.<\/p>\n
However she hoped that on his return from France, having had the chance to meet major stakeholders in global financial institutions and some heads of state, he would take some action to guide economic growth and development in the country.<\/p>\n
Goni Mallambe, a resident of Maiduguri, felt positive about the summit. He believed it would contribute to the development of Nigeria\u2019s economy which, in turn, would improve the quality of lives and the wellbeing of individuals, all of whom had been affected by the pandemic.<\/p>\n
But not everyone was as positive.<\/p>\n
Malam Babagana Modu, a resident of Maiduguri, was opposed to the summit and described it as \u201cdeceitful\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe president and other prominent ministers have been travelling to various countries across the world to attend meetings but nothing has come of them and the poor are just as poor as they have always been. Many are indigent and impoverished. I fear those who attend such summits waste the country\u2019s resources, take tea and come home with nothing to show for themselves or the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Professor Khalifa Dikwa, <\/strong><\/em>a public affairs analyst in Maiduguri, was also opposed to the summit, saying it was not important because it would not add any value to Africa or African lives.<\/p>\n \u201cThe summit is in favour of France,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Dikwa said the summit should not have been held in France because it was meant for the growth and development of countries in Africa.<\/p>\n \u201cThe summit should have been held in Addis Ababa, the headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, not in France.\u201d<\/p>\n Dikwa believed the summit was \u201can attempt to rob Africa of its resources and wealth\u201d.<\/p>\n He said African leaders should avoid the French government and develop their own methods to help themselves financially and economically.<\/p>\n Buhari is accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Trade and Investment Adeniyi Adebayo and Minister of Health Dr Osagie Ehanire. Babagana Monguno, the National Security Adviser, and Ahmed Rufai, the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, are also attending the summit.<\/p>\n The summit is expected to focus on reviewing the African economy, following the COVID-19 pandemic, and getting relief, especially from the increased debt burden on countries, said Bashir Ahmad, an aide to the president.<\/p>\n The two leaders will discuss political relations, economic ties, climate change and a partnership in buoying the health sector, particularly in checking the spread of COVID-19, with more research and vaccines.<\/p>\n They are also expected to discuss growing security threats in the Sahel and Lake Chad region.<\/p>\n Yafalmata Modu, a resident of Mafoni in Maiduguri, was sceptical, saying that Buhari had travelled extensively abroad several times but nothing concrete had come out of the meetings.<\/p>\n However she was hopeful that the summit would result in positive proposals that would improve the country\u2019s economy, especially as Nigerians were experiencing much hardship during pandemic.<\/p>\n Zara Alkali Umar, a resident of Damboa, said the president appeared to be taking positive action, but she believed he lacked \u201cthe spirit of supervision\u201d.<\/p>\n However she hoped that on his return from France, having had the chance to meet major stakeholders in global financial institutions and some heads of state, he would take some action to guide economic growth and development in the country.<\/p>\n Goni Mallambe, a resident of Maiduguri, felt positive about the summit. He believed it would contribute to the development of Nigeria\u2019s economy which, in turn, would improve the quality of lives and the wellbeing of individuals, all of whom had been affected by the pandemic.<\/p>\n But not everyone was as positive.<\/p>\n Malam Babagana Modu, a resident of Maiduguri, was opposed to the summit and described it as \u201cdeceitful\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe president and other prominent ministers have been travelling to various countries across the world to attend meetings but nothing has come of them and the poor are just as poor as they have always been. Many are indigent and impoverished. I fear those who attend such summits waste the country\u2019s resources, take tea and come home with nothing to show for themselves or the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Professor Khalifa Dikwa, <\/strong><\/em>a public affairs analyst in Maiduguri, was also opposed to the summit, saying it was not important because it would not add any value to Africa or African lives.<\/p>\n \u201cThe summit is in favour of France,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Dikwa said the summit should not have been held in France because it was meant for the growth and development of countries in Africa.<\/p>\n \u201cThe summit should have been held in Addis Ababa, the headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, not in France.\u201d<\/p>\n Dikwa believed the summit was \u201can attempt to rob Africa of its resources and wealth\u201d.<\/p>\n He said African leaders should avoid the French government and develop their own methods to help themselves financially and economically.<\/p>\n Buhari is accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Trade and Investment Adeniyi Adebayo and Minister of Health Dr Osagie Ehanire. Babagana Monguno, the National Security Adviser, and Ahmed Rufai, the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, are also attending the summit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nigeria\u2019s President Muhammadu Buhari is in Paris attending the four-day African Finance Summit, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron. The summit is expected to focus on reviewing the African economy, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":14712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14710"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26924,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14710\/revisions\/26924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}