Pakistani PM Presents Counter-terror Manual to Buhari
Pakistani Prime Minister, Shahid Khakan Abbasi, yesterday in Istanbul, Turkey, presented a manual on strategy and tactics in handling terrorism to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari received the manual during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the ninth D-8 summit in Istanbul.
Abbasi who said the manual had been put together by his country’s army, told Buhari that Pakistan would continue to share experiences with Nigeria in the fight against terrorism with a view to helping it develop effective strategies and results.
A statement by the president’s spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, said the presentation was preceded by Buhari’s disclosure to Pakistani Prime Minister that the Boko Haram terrorist group in Nigeria had been degraded and even the opposition agreed to that.
Shehu quoted the president as saying: ‘”We have moved them (terrorists) out from their strongholds in the North-east; we have denied them space and even their attacks on soft targets are becoming less often.
“‘Even the opposition (party) recognises that there is a considerable improvement of security in the North East,’” he said.
According to the statement, Abbasi said both countries had similar prospects and challenges, including large population, key regional players in economy and security; the fight against terrorism, improving governance and domestic economy.
It also said Buhari promised that the NigeriaPakistan Joint Commission would be revamped to serve as a veritable platform to strengthen economic and trade relations between both countries.
Shehu also said the pres- ident expressed satisfaction at the level of defence and military cooperation between both countries and agreed with the prime minister that there was still room for improvement.
He added that the president regretted that same could not be said on the economic and trade fronts, which he said had fallen far short of what could be achieved by both countries.
“Nigeria-Pakistan cooperation is very historical. Military training has been very consistent and I am impressed by the efficiency of officers trained in Pakistan. But the performance of our countries in relation to trade and industrial cooperation had been very disappointing,” Buhari said.
While noting that Nigeria had failed to utilise past earnings to create a commensurate level of socio-economic development, the president was said to have assured that his administration had identified the problems, and was working towards promoting national development through international trade, industrial growth and improvement on infrastructure.
Shehu also said Buhari enjoined Pakistan to take full advantage of the new climate of investment being promoted by his administration.
‘”There are a lot of opportunities, for us to harness, in the manufacturing sector, agriculture, commerce, solar energy and the electricity sector,” the president further said.
He said Pakistani Prime Minister assured that his country was ready to host the next meeting on joint commission, assuring Buhari that he would personally receive the Nigerian delegation any time.
He also disclosed that Abbasi invited Buhari to visit Pakistan in no distant time.