Buhari, Polish President Meet, Sign Treaty On Gas Shipment To Europe

As Europe explores alternative source of gas supply, Nigeria and Poland on Tuesday signed comprehensive treaty for gas shipment to Europe.

The agreement also involved the agriculture sector as the fallout of the Russia-Ukraine war opens new frontiers for alignment and realignment across the globe.

The agreement was entered into by President Muhammadu Buhari for Nigeria and Andrzej Duda, Polish President, at the presidential villa, Abuja.

Speaking after the deal, Duda described the deal as very necessary, adding, ‘‘What was pivotal in our conversation today both in our tete-a-tete as well as the plenary session was how to provide food and energy security.

‘‘It is important to us to strengthen the relations between Poland and Nigeria and the MOU we have signed is very important for the future of both nations on food security,’’ the Polish president said through an interpreter.

Speaking on the energy security dimension, he explained that, “the talks that we have had today are essential from the perspective of supplying both LNG gas as well as oil to Poland and to the European Union…. We want to further this cooperation and we want to increase the supplies from Nigeria to Poland and by this way we want to contribute to the development of economic cooperation between the two countries.”

On his part, Buhari said, ‘‘Our cooperation in education has a long history and we wish to encourage the extension of that cooperation to the sharing of knowledge and experience between our educational institutions in areas such as science and technology as well as Information and Communication Technology, in order to help drive innovation in our countries in this competitive global knowledge economy.”

President Buhari, while describing the two-day visit of the Polish President as significant as it underscored the cordial relations that exist between both countries, commended the efforts of the government of Poland in providing assistance to the large number of refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine, including a significant number of Nigerians.

‘‘I also wish to express our sincere gratitude for the kind and generous support extended during our government’s evacuation of our fleeing nationals.

‘‘We also appreciate greatly the opportunity given to some of our nationals to remain in Poland to continue with their studies.

‘‘As regards trade relations, we would like to see an increase in the level of trade, as it remains relatively low in spite of the long period of relations between our two countries,’’ he said during the joint press conference.