FLASHBACK: N1.14bn SUVs: What Buhari Told Niger Republic President During 2021 Visit

On April 19, 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari assured the then newly inaugurated President of Niger Republic, Mohamed Bazoum, that Nigeria would assist his country “in diverse ways as required” to “stabilize our region for the benefit of the two countries.”

Bazoum paid the Nigerian leader a two-day official visit about two weeks after the transfer of power to him by Mahamadou Issoufou who had spent 10 years in office.

Bazoum, during the visit, appealed for cooperation between his country and Nigeria over security issues, saying the fact that Nigerians flee to Niger during terrorist attacks “shows that we need to cooperate, and we will face our challenges together”.

President Buhari, in response, assured his Nigerien counterpart that Nigeria would do all it can to stabilize the West African sub-region.

“We will stabilise our region for the benefit of the two countries,” Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman, quoted Buhari as saying.

“Nigerians and Nigeriens are people with similar culture, language and ways of life, and we also share about 1,500 kilometres of land border, so we cannot ignore each other. We will do all it takes to secure our two countries.”

Outrage Over N1.14 Billion SUVs Donation To Niger Republic

In what appeared to be a fulfillment of part of his promise to Niger Republic, President Buhari has approved the purchase of 10 Toyota Landcruiser V8 vehicles worth N1.14 billion for the West African country ‘to tackle insecurity’ in that country.

Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, on Wednesday, confirmed that the donation was approved by President Buhari to enable Niger to safeguard its territory.

The news sparked outrage among Nigerians who deemed the donation a misplaced priority as it is coming at a time that Nigerian tertiary institutions have been on strike for about five months over the Federal Government’s failure to pay arrears of their allowances, among other demands.

Some Nigerians who criticized the donation on social media also wondered why luxury vehicles would be used to fight insecurity.

Meanwhile, in March 2022, Bazoum paid another visit to Buhari to thank him for approving the construction of the N1.96 Kano-Katsina-Maradi railway project and the Multinational Joint Task Force which is largely funded by Nigeria.

The 284km rail project will connect Kano in Nigeria to Maradi in the Niger Republic when completed.

“On economic issues, we discussed the Kano-Katsina-Maradi railway project. And this project is an infrastructure that will integrate the economies, the economies of Nigeria and Niger.

“So, I’m here to thank President Buhari for his effort at ensuring that this project has taken off and I hope that it will be sustained because this project will radically change the trading exchange between the two countries.

“We also spoke about the gas pipeline in the sense that gas and oil now have become an issue in world politics, in the world economy,” Bazoum had told State House correspondents during the visit.

On the MJTF operation, he had said: “My visit coincides with the very big operation that is taking place jointly today in the Lake Chad Basin region against the terrorist and this big operation is being conducted by MNJTF – the Multinational Joint Task Force.

“And as you will know very well, the operations of the Multinational Joint Task Force is funded almost entirely by Nigeria. And this operation is meant to help in providing security challenges that both of our countries are facing.

“I want to reiterate my recommendation and thanks to President Buhari, who because of his support this operation is going on and will be very much continuing in future.”