President Bola Tinubu, on Sunday afternoon, received the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Scholz, who arrived at the Villa’s forecourt at 03:40 pm (local time), is visiting Nigeria for the first time since assuming office in December 2021.
It also begins his two-day working visit where he is scheduled to meet business leaders in Lagos on Monday, October 30.
Both leaders met at the 18th G20 Summit in India where the German helmsman told Tinubu, “We acknowledge the business-friendly reforms you have put in place. I am happy to inform you of my desire to visit you in Nigeria in October, which will allow us to carry forward these initiatives.”
He is the second European leader to visit the West African state since the Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2022.
On September 7, 2022, Polish President Andrzej Duda met former President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, expressing his country’s desire to increase energy imports from Nigeria.
The Russo-Ukrainian conflict has rekindled Europe’s interest in Africa’s energy market as EU nations seek alternatives to sanctioned Russian supply.
Barely a week before Scholz’s visit, the EU’s Commissioner for Energy in Nigeria, Ms. Kadri Simson, said the bloc is reinforcing its diplomatic relationship with its reliable Liquefied Natural Gas partners like Nigeria in the short-term to enable it to bridge the gas supply gap in the continent that resulted from the War.
