Daily Independent Online.
*
Monday,July 19, 2004.
Atiku off to
London, to hold talks with creditors
By Chris Agbambu
Deputy
Bureau Chief,
Abuja and ‘Gbenga Abiodun
State
House,
Abuja
Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Sunday
left Nigeria on a three-day official trip to London to enlist the British
government support for the ongoing economic reform programme in the country.
A statement from his office by the Chief
Information Officer, Mr. Stephen Nelson, said Atiku will also seize the
opportunity to advance discussions with the London Club on the need for debt
forgiveness for Nigeria.
While in London, Atiku will meet with the
British Under Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Mr. Chris Mullin,
to discuss how to increase Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from the United
Kingdom to Nigeria as well as to seek the support of the British government for
Nigeria’s National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS).
Presidency source said the vice president
embarked on the trip with the understanding of President Olusegun Obasanjo to
advance Nigeria’s campaign for debt forgiveness as an important condition
for economic regeneration.
Atiku is also expected to attend a private
lunch organised in his honour by the House of Lords, to be hosted by the
British former Secretary of State for Overseas Development, Baroness Linda
Chalker.
Other activities lined up for him include a
scheduled visit to the Oxford University where he would be hosted by Professor
Emeritus Anthony Kirk-Greene, who is an authority on the history of Northern
Nigeria - as well as a meeting with leading members of the Nigeria
community in Britain.
Atiku is being accompanied on the trip by
governors Bukar Abba Ibrahim (Yobe State); Dieprieye Alamieyeseigha (Bayelsa
State); Minister of Commerce, Ambassador Idris Waziri; Minister of State for
Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Abubakar Tanko; Executive Secretary of Nigerian
Investment Promotion Council, Mr. Mustapha Bello and some top advisers and
aides.
The Vice President is
expected back in the country on Tuesday.
