By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
The FCT Minister, Barr. Nyesom Wike, has frowned at the practice in which Foreign Missions do not follow bilateral agreements to logical conclusion.
Wike expressed his displeasure at this unfruitful practice when he received in audience the Irish Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency, Peter Ryan, regretted that several bilateral agreement have ended at the discussion levels.
The minister then urged the visiting ambassador to take advantage of the very vast arable land in Nigeria’s capital territory to strengthen the partnership between both countries.
Wike said, “Relationships should be beneficial. I won’t be in a hurry to enter arrangements that end immediately after discussions. ”
“Nigeria has a strong tie 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.”
“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 ICT hubs, so we can duplicate the same in the FCT.”
Earlier, the Irish Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency, Peter Ryan, noted that his country is willing to partner with the FCT Administration particulaly in the areas of Education, Agriculture, and Information and Communication Technology.
Ryan said that a massive number of Nigerian population are residing in the Republic of Ireland with many of them making remarkable contributions to the economy of Ireland, especially in the area of Sports and ICT.
The Ambassador who explained that the Republic of Ireland has a lot of partnerships with several capitals in the world, adding that he sees the potential in Abuja and promised 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 significant 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 numerous areas, one of them is 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 organization called Sustainable Food System, Rayan said.
