The G7 group of industrialised nations has resolved to support the new Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari.
This followed the group’s acknowledgement of the way and manner of his emergence and the tremendous challenges faced by the government he leads, especially in its efforts to combat the Boko Haram.
A statement issued by a spokesman for the President, Garba Shehu, said the assurance of support was given at the end of the presentation President Buhari made on Monday.
The G7 leaders said they recognised the President’s massive amount of confidence and expectations from his government.
They acknowledged him as having emerged from an election adjudged to be the freest in the country’s electoral history, but regretted the severe challenges his new government had to face from the beginning.
They told President Buhari that they took cognisance of the lack of resources, leaving him with a government over-stretched in capacity.
They noted that the country’s Army lacked training and equipment with little or no will to engage.
In recognition of the fact that the security threat of the Boko Haram had gone beyond Nigeria, equally affecting other countries in the region, the G7 conceded that no one country could tackle it alone.
They expressed warm sentiments towards the Nigerian leader and praised him for reaching out to the country’s neighbours and the group of industrialised nations within a week of his takeover of government.
They asked President Buhari to come up with the specifics on his requirements, assuring him that they would study the requirements either individually or collectively and offer help.
The group also requested for an update on the nature and the scale of the problems in order to know the nature and the scale of the assistance they will provide, assuring the Nigerian President that “Nigeria will find a partner in the G7”.
President Buhari, who had the privilege of being the first to address the G7 among the invited presidents and Prime Ministers was warmly received at the summit.
He returned to Nigeria in the early hours of Tuesday, 9 June.
