The out going French Ambassador to Nigeria, Denys Gauer, has reiterated his country’s commitment to continue supporting the federal government’s effort to ensure stability in the country.
Gauer, who stated this in Abuja at a press conference to commemorate the French National Day, blamed the continuous farmer-herder crisis on population growth with shrinking resources.
He said, “It is a demographic problem and everybody must be conscious of that. It has to be tackled with two things. One is policy to develop agriculture and cattle rearing with other method.
“The second is justice. When there is that kind of killing, there must be proper prosecution and perpetrators must be properly sentenced. If that does not happen, then, it cannot end.”
He said the killings in some part of Nigeria are affecting the image of the country. “Foreigner partners will be less willing to engage in partnership with Nigeria, especially those affected areas that need investments.”
The envoy said the security relations between Nigeria and France has improved enormously in recent years, mainly due to Boko Haram insurgence.
“France is very much engaged in the fights against terrorism in the whole of West Africa and particularly in Nigeria, we have been instrumental to regional responses to Boko Haram.
“We have also developed our bilateral relations with Nigerian Armed Forces; we are providing a lot of intelligence to enhance the security forces.
“President Emmanuel Macron’s visit focused on dealing with security issues and we are putting measures in place to see how we can improve on them and on economic trade,” he said.
The envoy said that there was need for the relationship between the two countries to be expanded to evolve exchange of culture, renewable energy, agriculture and smart cities.
He said France, as part of effort to strengthen cultural ties, would launch “Season of African culture” in 2020. “We want to promote African culture to make it more known in France with African narrative.”
He wished Nigeria free, fair and credible elections in 2019, saying Nigeria has to consolidate on the gains of the 2015 polls.
Daily Trust