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He spoke on Thursday after
reaching an agreement with his Turkish counterpart, President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan to strengthen cooperation between the security agencies
of both countries to counter terrorism.
The agreement was reached after talks, on Thursday in Ankara, the Turkish capital.
Speaking
at a joint press conference after a tete-a-tete with his host,
President Buhari said ‘‘We were very surprised and disturbed by the
claim made by Boko Haram on what they have been getting from ISIS.
‘‘We know we will be able to contain them and we have proven that we can do it.
‘‘We
are very pleased that Turkey is in a position to assist us and has been
strengthening our educational and health institutions.”
Buhari
who was commenting on the degradation of Boko Haram in Nigeria said the
improved security situation in the North East was an eloquent testimony
to the efforts of his administration in combating terrorism since he
came into office in May 2015.
The
President said he was ‘‘very pleased’’ that the defence ministers of
both countries held extensive discussions on developing new strategies
for counter-terrorism.
A
statement issued by Senior Special Assistant to the president on media
and publicity, Garba Shehu, quoted the Buhari as saying: ‘‘We are very
pleased with the progress of the meeting so far and we are going to wait
for the details of meetings between the two countries.
‘‘We
will as a result of the meeting between the ministers and officials of
both countries strengthen rapidly whatever their recommendations are,”
he added.
The
President said the two leaders also discussed the prospects of
increasing their bilateral trade, which has exceeded 779 million USD in
the first eight months of 2017.
According
to him, ‘‘There are a lot of potentialities in terms of investments and
a lot is being done in the educational and health sectors in Nigeria.
‘‘These
will be strengthened and I assure you that Nigeria is prepared to
accept Turkish business people to come and explore more of Nigeria’s
potentialities.”
In
his remarks, Erdogan said Nigeria had great potentials and remains “a
global actor in terms of economy, demographics and its peacekeeping
records.”
He
indicated that Turkey was interested in investing in Nigeria’s
electricity, refineries and gas sectors, adding that increasing the
flights between Turkey and Nigeria would further improve commercial and
people-to-people relationships.
On
the fight against terrorism, the Turkish leader said: ‘‘there is no
difference between Boko Haram, Fethullah Terrorist Organisation or Daesh
(ISIS), which have all killed, inflicted pain and hardship on innocent
people.
According
to him, ‘‘All of these organisations are hordes of murderers that feed
on the innocent people, and in the fight against terrorism, we will
stand with our Nigerian friends, and we are ready to share our
experience and provide all kinds of support.
‘‘We also expect the same cooperation from Nigeria in fighting against Fethullah that murdered 250 Turkish citizens last year.”
