Bilateral Agreements: Wike Asks Foreign Missions To Change Approach

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has frowned at the practice where bilateral agreements are not followed to the logical conclusion.

He said several bilateral agreements had only ended at the discussion levels.

The minister who spoke when he hosted the Irish Ambassador to Nigeria, Peter Ryan, urged the visiting ambassador to take advantage of the vast arable land in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory to strengthen the partnership between both countries.

Wike stressed that relationships should be beneficial, saying that he will not be in a hurry to enter arrangements that end immediately after discussions.

“Nigeria has strong ties with the Republic of Ireland and so we would like to leverage on that, especially in the area of agriculture which Ireland is known for.

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“One of the important focuses of Mr President is to harness the potential in ICT, in the interest of the youths. We will seize the opportunity to visit Dublin to see some of the ICT hubs so that we can duplicate the same in the FCT,” he said.

Earlier, Ryan said his country is willing to partner with the FCT Administration, especially in the areas of education, agriculture, and information and communication technology.

He said the Republic of Ireland has a very large Nigerian population, with many of them making remarkable contributions to the economy of Ireland, especially in the area of sports and ICT.

The ambassador, who noted that the Republic of Ireland has a lot of partnership with several capitals in the world, said he sees the potential in Abuja and promises to connect the FCTA to the vibrant cultural ecosystem in his country.

He also promised to facilitate practical collaborations with key investment experts and other stakeholders in the Irish private sector.

“Education is very important to us and has helped us achieve the success we have in the area of technology.  Our mission is very much the same, Ireland is world-class in a number of areas, one of them being agriculture and education.

“In Ireland, we intend to be very practical as we know that we can’t do everything, so in things we do, we try to do the best we can. From the first week of December, we are bringing to Abuja, the head of the largest vocational education provider on the land of Ireland. He will be here and has no agenda, so he is at your disposal.

“In the area of agriculture, we had a visit earlier in September by our Minister of Agriculture to Nigeria. And as a follow up to the visit, we can share the lessons and experience by connecting His Excellency, the FCT Minister, directly to the experts that run an organisation called Sustainable Food System,” he said.