Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged Nigeria’s continued support for Libya’s quest to regain political and security stability.
He gave the assurances at a bilateral meeting on the margins of the African Union Summit in Niamey, Niger Republic, with Head of Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez Al-Sarraj, on Sunday.
He said: “We will do our best to help Libya stabilise.”
The president also discussed recent developments in the North African country, as well as bilateral issues between Nigeria and Libya with Al-Sarraj and noted that there are over 6,000 Nigerians in Libya, who see that country as a gateway to Europe.
President Buhari noted that the humanitarian crisis arising from insurgency and the drying up of Lake Chad has affected over 30 million people in the region who depend on the Lake for farming, fishing and animal husbandry.
He added that the crisis has forced some Nigerians to defy the desert to make perilous journeys across the Mediterranean and the Sahara Desert to Europe.
Also, in a separate audience with UN Deputy secretary general, Amina Mohammed, president Buhari stressed the role the international community needed to play in recharging the Lake, noting that the financial cost was beyond the affected countries.
He decried the menace of terrorism in the Sahel countries, and noted that the instability in Libya has been a negative force on the Sahel.
Al-Sarraj, in a statement by Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, told the president that there had been a lot of deaths and injuries in his country, and pledged that his government is determined to put an end to the situation.
‘‘The aggression must stop. The solution is not military alone, we also believe in diplomacy.
“We are also victims of terrorism, just like Nigeria,’’ Al-Sarraj declared.
He declared that Libya contributed a lot to the establishment and survival of the AU, and added that it is now time for Africa to reciprocate.
On her part, the deputy secretary general told the president that growing security challenges in Africa are adversely affecting development and undermining the attainment of Sustaining Development Goals (SDGs).
She said UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, will host the SDGs summit during a high-level week of the 74th Session of the General Assembly in September, and will seize the occasion to call for a roadmap for a decade of delivery of the sustainable development targets.