Spain, Nigeria Sign Memoradum of Understanding on Anti- terrorism – Envoy

The Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Alfonso
Sebastian de Erice yesterday said that the
Spanish government has been a closed ally of
Nigeria and spent £6.5 billion to import oil and
gas from the country in 2014.

The Spanish Ambassador who disclosed this
when he paid a courtesy visit to the Speaker of
the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara in
Abuja also disclosed that Spain has signed a
Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the
country and relevant agencies on the training of
security personnel and anti-terrorism.
Erice further informed the Speaker that his
country was ready to partner with Nigeria in
providing necessary assistance in the
transformation of the existing refineries as part
of efforts to boost local production of crude oil.
While commending the bilateral relations existing
between Spain and Nigeria, he expressed his
country’s readiness to partner Nigeria in the area
of agricultural development.
According to him, “Spain is one of the partners
of Nigeria, the first or the second best client. We
buy £6.5 billion of oil and gas. Yes we are very
happy with the exchanges that we have, we need
the oil but we want to diversify because we think
it’s very important that our economic relations
do not be only in gas and petrol, we have to
diversify.
“We want to cooperate with you in agriculture,
we have very good agricultural industry, we have
comparative advantage in tourism,
manufacturing, you have people who are very
well prepared. We have several treaties that
allow us to work here. It’s a domain that we will
have to explore. For us the oil business is
important because we need it but we want to
diversity and I know that Nigerian authorities
also want to diversify.”
Responding, the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara,
appreciated efforts of the Spanish government in
its support for the development of tourism,
mineral resources and other sectors that could
provide employment for the teeming population
of the country country.
In another development, the Speaker has urged
the Cross River State caucus and other
lawmakers to shun personal interests in the
efforts to make Nigeria a great country through
good legislation.
Speaking when the Cross River State caucus in
the House of Representatives led by Rep Essien
Ayi visited him yesterday, he appealed to the
lawmakers to compensate those who suffered
during the electioneering campaign by promoting
pro-people agenda such as employment
generation and security of lives and property.
He assured them that the lingering crisis in the
House would be resolved as soon as possible
and also pledged the commitment of the
leadership of the House towards the
implementation of the legislative agenda on
resumption from recess.