President Bola Tinubu on Sunday conferred the national honour of the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), on the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
Tinubu gave the honour on Sunday during the Nigeria/India Bilateral meeting held at the Presidential, Abuja.
The president said that the award was bestowed on the Indian leader to signify Nigeria’s appreciation and commitment to the Nigerian Indian partnership.
Tinubu added that the invitation to the Indian PM was to rekindle and reclassify the existing relationship between Nigeria and India.
He also stated that the high level engagement was intended to improve
“Nigeria values its excellent relationship with India, and we work to deepen and broaden the same to the mutual benefit of our two friendly countries.
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“You represent a very strong commitment in democratic values and norms, you have been doing a good job historically, winning three consecutive elections in a complex society is a feat that we respect so much.
“I will confer on you today, the Prime Minister of India, Nigeria’s National Honor, the Grand Commander of the Order of Niger.
” This to signify Nigerian appreciation and commitment to India as a partner”, Tinubu said.
Modi commiserated with Nigeria over the recent floods that ravaged several cities across the country, including Maiduguri, Borno.
The Indian prime minister promised to support Nigeria with 20 tonnes of relief materials.
Modi said this was to support the administration of Tinubu on its ongoing humanitarian efforts.
” We had a very productive discussion with President Tinubu. We talked about adding momentum to our strategic partnership.
” There is immense scope for ties to flourish even further in sectors like defence, energy, technology, trade, health, education and more,” Modi said.
To bolster agriculture, energy cooperation
Nigeria and India have pledged to strengthen ties in the strategic areas of agriculture, renewable energy and defence, among others.
Dammu Ravi, India’s Secretary of Economic Relations, stated this on Sunday in Abuja, at a news conference on the sidelines of the state visit by Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi to Nigeria.
Ravi said that the visit, the first in 17 years by an Indian PM afforded the leadership of both countries to deepen it’s bilateral relations in many fronts.
“The Prime Minister and President Bola Tinubu re-affirmed support and commitment to strengthening India, Nigeria strategic partnership.
“The two leader discussed bilateral cooperations in the field of trade, investment, defence, security, education, health, culture and people to people levels.
“They also focused on further enhancing the strategic partnership in various sectors, particularly in agriculture, railway transport, renewable energy and development cooperation fields,” he said.
Ravi said both countries were working more closely to boost investment in the renewable energy sector and fight climate change.
Earlier, Shri Balasubramanian, Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, said that Indian companies were keen on diversifying and investing in Nigeria’s agriculture sector.
“There are new areas that are been identified which includes agriculture, particularly in areas like irrigational services, hybrid seed development and climate resilient seeds.
“We also talked about mining and various issues pertaining to SMEs and skill development,” he said.
The envoy said that both leaders also discussed investment in Nigeria’s Oil and Gas sector, including establishing Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) conversion facilities in Nigeria.
“There was good concentration on the Oil and Gas industry investment.
“Some Indian companies are already working on the CNG areas, they are setting up outlets for CNG here and the CNG kits to be installed in cars,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria and India had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the areas of Cultural Exchange, Survey Cooperation, and Customs.
The ties between India-Nigeria were elevated to the status of a “strategic partnership” when then prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, PM Modi’s predecessor, visited Nigeria in Oct. 2007.
