On Recharge of Lake Chad

The recharge of the Lake Chad with water from Congo basin dominated talks yesterday when President Muhammadu Buhari hosted the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Althani.

The issue of investments in sectors like petroleum, power, aviation, agriculture, railways and many others, also featured prominently in their discussions.

The President stressed the need for the recharge of Lake Chad with water from the Congo Basin to bring succour to the more than 30 million people adversely affected by the shrinkage of the lake over the years.

“We invite you to invest in our refineries, pipelines, power sector, aviation, agriculture, education, and many others, so that you can have your management here to oversee the investment. We need your expertise,” President Buhari said.

On the receding Lake Chad, he noted that of the over 30 million people affected, more than half are in Nigeria.

According to him, the development has contributed greatly to illegal migration, as innumerable youths dare the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea to find safer shores in Europe with a large number of them dying in the process.

“We need help with the recharge of Lake Chad, as it is not a project that the concerned countries can handle alone,” President Buhari said, adding: “Recharging the lake will bring back fishing, farming, animal husbandry, and youths won’t be attracted by insurgency or illegal migration. We want Qatar to be involved because of the humanitarian nature of the endeavour.”

Sheikh Hamad Al-Thani said he was honoured and happy to be in Nigeria for the first time.

The Qatari leader stressed that it was a reciprocal visit to the one embarked upon in 2016 by President Buhari.

He said: “The relationship between our countries is very good. We just have to build on it. We share a lot of similarities in different areas. We need to enhance bilateral trade and economic cooperation. We are willing to do a lot more with Nigeria, and will continue to work on investment opportunities of mutual benefit.”

The Qatari leader arrived the Presidential Villa in Abuja in the afternoon was received by President Buhari at the forecourt.