A German journalist, Dominic Johnson, has called out the Nigerian press for misleading headlines concerning President Muhammadu Buhari’s trip to Germany.
Some Nigerian newspapers had reported that the German Chancellor Angela Merkel had pledged €18 billion towards the development of of the Lake Chad basin.
Johnson, who is foreign editor of German newspaper TAZ, took to micro-blogging website, Twitter to debunk the reports saying that Merkel only pledged €18 million and for humanitarian purposes only.
“Here is the Lake Chad region, to which Nigeria is one, facing major challenges in the fight against Boko Haram. We have defined the framework of our development cooperation 47.5 million euro and the humanitarian aid to the Lake Chad region with 18 million euros,” Merkel told the press at a press conference with Buhari. “The humanitarian situation in the Lake Chad region is alarming,”
Read translated full transcript of the press conference below :
Press conference by Chancellor Merkel and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari
in Berlin
(The logging of the foreign language part was based on the simultaneous translation)
CHANCELLOR MERKEL: Dear President Muhammadu Buhari! I am pleased to welcome today in Berlin after we have already met at the G7 in Elmau and I had been to Nigeria a few years ago.
A few days ago also met as an expression of our close cooperation, the German-Nigerian Binational Commission in Abuja, to our Foreign Minister had traveled. We will continue the cooperation in connection with the G20 summit, which will take place next year in Germany, and return there on what we have already set in the context of G7 as priorities, namely cooperation in the health sector and of course the cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
Here is the Lake Chad region, to which Nigeria is one, facing major challenges in the fight against Boko Haram. We have defined the framework of our development cooperation 47.5 million euro and the humanitarian aid to the Lake Chad region with 18 million euros. The humanitarian situation in the Lake Chad region is alarming. There is more than eleven million people who are driven, who suffer from hunger partly and Chad are facing that currently ten percent of the water area which has what he had always what course the diet basics in high dimensions into question.
All the more remarkable is that the multinational military mission against Boko Haram has already achieved significant successes. The delegation of the president and the governor of the region is represented, ravaging the Boko Haram. We could now convince them that there is even considerable success. But the economic situation in Nigeria is complicated by the low price of oil. Thus, there is a high level of unemployment, associated with crime especially in the Niger Delta. Thus, the economic cooperation is of great importance.
We will continue to strive for - the president leads in this sense today also conversations - that economic cooperation with German companies can be strengthened. There are large investment projects. On this day, even the first inauguration of a production plant of BASF in Nigeria takes place where we can connect job training, where we young people can give a chance for the demographic development of Nigeria is very dynamic.
We also talked about the issues of migration partnership. The European Commission wants to negotiate with Nigeria a migration partnership. I have made it clear that we need to put illegal touts the craft, people should not be put at risk, but that we also have to make clear, in return, that we need to create prospects for the future, especially for young local people in Nigeria - whether through the development cooperation, but it is also through jobs, through training and education opportunities.
We are talking in the context of this migration partnership also about a repatriation agreement that will negotiate the Commission essentially. In Germany there are hundreds returnee people from Nigeria. But at the same time we want to fulfill our responsibility to do something on site for the many young people who need a job and looking.
I want to thank the President of the determination with which he regards the fight against terrorism and crime - there are also first signs of success to see - and also to cooperate with what willingness there is cooperation within the framework of ECOWAS and in terms of regional cooperation ,
In this respect the present exchange has helped that our relations have become closer. We have a great potential to continue to work and want to assist Nigeria as Federal Republic of Germany, especially in economically difficult times. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, which is a great economic power. We must ensure that the crisis can be overcome as quickly as possible by the low oil prices, so that the gross domestic product will rise again and does not fall, as is the case at the moment.
Once you and your delegation a warm welcome.
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