Emir of Qatar in Nigeria, meets President Buhari in Aso Rock
Mathew Dadiya, Abuja
The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Althani has arrived Nigeria on Tuesday and heads straight to the Aso Rock Villa where he holds a closed doors meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The emir, who dressed in green color suit, arrived the Presidential Villa at 12:11 PM, and was received by President Buhari thereafter, inspected the presidential guard of Honourable before going into the meeting.
Although, the aim of visit was not disclosed to State House correspondents, but it came three years after President Buhari visited Doha, the Qatari capital in February 2016.
During that visit Buhari attended a meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Nigerian dignitaries who were on ground at the Villa included: Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Information, Lai Mohammed; Internal Affairs Abdulraman Danbazau; Education, Adamu Adamu; State Aviation, Hadi Sirika; Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina; Senior Special Assistant to the President,Media and Publicity Garba Shehu amongst others.
The Daily Times recalls that in March 2018, precisely a year ago, the Nigerian President received former Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Althani, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Buhari has during his visit to Qatar, emphasised the need for member states of OPEC, and non-OPEC members to cooperate and find a common ground to stabilise crude oil prices.
At a bilateral meeting with the emir, Buhari described the then market situation in the industry, which has seen oil prices plummet by 70 per cent since mid-2014, as “totally unacceptable.”
The president invited Qatari investors to take advantage of the abundant opportunities in Nigeria and invest in the key areas of energy, agriculture, real estate development, banking and finance.
Qatar had last year, announced its intention to pull out of the OPEC oil producers’ cartel.
The Gulf state, which joined OPEC in 1961, said it would leave the cartel to focus on gas production.
Today, Qatar is the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas.
