Nigeria’s diplomatic relations with her West African neighbours received a boost when a delegation of students of Ghana Armed Forces Administrative Staff School on study tour of the country, visited Federal Ministry of Finance.
The delegation comprising senior officers of Ghana Armed Forces and other officers from several West African countries were in the Ministry to exchange ideas on Nigeria’s economic policies, economic developments and how the country is coping with trans-national crimes, such as religious insurgency, drug peddling, economic crimes and militancy in the Niger-Delta.
The leader of the team, Air Vice Marshal Issifu Kadri said, the students were on academic tour to some countries in West Africa to get acquainted with the economic, cultural, political and industrial lives of these countries to enable them write their academic reports in these areas.
The team leader said that Nigeria and Federal Ministry of Finance in particular, was selected, considering its role in the overall management of the country’s finances. He said that their visit was a fact finding one which will enable them confirm international media reports about Nigeria.
In his welcome remarks, The Director of International Economic Relations (IER) in the Ministry, Haruna Mohamed who represented the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry assured the team that Nigeria’s hospitality is second to none. He said, both the Coordinating Minister for the Nigeria Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala and the Permanent Secretary would have liked to welcome them to the Ministry, if they were around.
The Director, while enlightening the students on the vision and mission of Federal Ministry of Finance, informed them that the Ministry is charged with, above others, the responsibility of managing the finances of the country. He went further to throw light on the economic situation of Nigeria.
Haruna Mohamed while speaking on the viability of the Nigeria economy, said, it has been assessed to be the fastest growing economy in Africa through its recent rebasing of the GDP. He x-rayed the various economic programmes Nigeria has embarked upon especially the vision 20:20:20, which is aimed at placing Nigeria as one of the first twenty leading economies in the World by 2020. The IER Director informed the team that Nigeria still remains the most fertile ground for foreign investment.
On sustenance of the economy, the Director said that Nigeria is not only making frantic effort to sustain its economy, but has avenues to assist some sister countries with weak economy through Nigeria Trust Fund and ECOWAS Bank.
As a sign of appreciation, the Director IER was decorated in Ghana colours and one of the students expressed their gratitude for the invaluable knowledge they had acquired in the course of their visit. He pledged the students’ commitment not only to defend their countries’ territory, but Africa at large.
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