Nigeria and Poland on Tuesday signed agreements to partner on agriculture to address the issue of food security occasioned by Russia-Ukraine war, as both countries strengthen their 60-year-old bilateral relations.
President Muhammadu Buhari and his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, made the announcement at the Presidential Villa, Abuja shortly after a bilateral meeting during which the agreements were signed.
President Duda described the agreement as necessary in the light of the food security crisis as the aftermath of the Russian aggression and the war in Ukraine, which he said was unjustified.
Speaking about the energy security dimension and to further develop the cooperation, the Polish President noted that Nigeria, being rich in gas, will ensure a steady increase of supply of LNG Gas and oil from Nigeria to Poland and to the European Union.
President Duda, who spoke through an interpreter, stressed that was the first official visit paid by the President of Poland to the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 60 years, since both countries established diplomatic relations.
He said: “And for that very reason, this is a truly important visit to me. And once again, let me stress, it is a huge honor.”
Duda said both countries talked about furthering and deepening the relations between the two countries.
He further stressed that “Nigeria is the only African country with which Poland has signed an agreement on Strategic Dialogue. And actually a very good part of this strategic dialogue is the memorandum of cooperation in the area of agriculture that we have just signed a couple of minutes ago.
“It is immensely important piece of document, especially in the light of the food security crisis that is faced right now. And not only by Nigeria, but also by the entire African continent.
“And the 10 most pivotal aspects that we raised in our conversation today both in our private tet-a-tet meeting with Mr. President, as well as during the plenary session was how to provide food security and energy security nowadays.
“Both of these topics, of course, stem from the situation that we are faced with today in Europe and to be more precise in our part of Europe. That is the aftermath of the Russian aggression and the war in Ukraine.
“And the Russian aggression against Ukraine, which is totally unjustified, has sparked off a very serious food crisis and a very serious energy crisis.
“As the country who is also a member of the United Nations, it is so important to support Ukraine in its export of grain and food products out of the country.
“But it’s equally burden to us to provide our support to Africa and in particular to our partners country, that is Nigeria.
“And that is why it’s so important to us to further strengthen the relations between Poland and Nigeria right now. And one element in strengthening that relations is the memorandum that we have signed today.
“It is very important for the future of our relations, but also for the future of the food security in Nigeria and at large. It can also contribute to the modernization and increasing the efficiency of Nigerian economy and Nigerian agriculture but it also can serve as a vehicle for sharing experiences.”
Speaking about the energy security dimension, President Duda, said the talks held were essential from the perspective of supplying both LNG gas as well as oil to Poland and to the European Union.
He said: “Nigeria is indeed very wealthy. And I want to also add that the first applies to the LNG gas connecting to our LNG gas terminal from Nigeria, which had already happened, just like the import of crude oil performed by our oil company Latos.
“Those shipments did happen in recent years. And that means well for the future, because we do want to further develop this cooperation, we want to increase the supplies from Nigeria to Poland. And by this way, we also want to contribute to the development of economic relations between both our countries.”
He expressed hope that the political talks will yield very fruitful outcome of the meeting that he will have with representatives of business sectors, both from Poland and Nigeria.
He underlined that over the last 60 years, “we have been able to establish a very good relations, bilateral relations and contacts between Poland and Nigeria, on the people two people level.
And that has happened due to many Nigerians studying in Poland, but also due to this case of Polish scientists and also due to the input of Polish engineers in the building of infrastructure in Nigeria.
“I do believe that these good people to people relations will also spill over on other fields. And they will contribute to the development of the economic relations between both our countries which are so immensely important nowadays.”
On his part, President Buhari thanked the Polish Government for opening its arms to Nigerian students whose studies were truncated by the Russia-Ukraine crisis; offering them opportunities for continued education.
He noted that both countries have reached agreements to increase collaboration in agriculture, energy and defence.
