Niger State Governor, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, has said that Nigeria’s full development aspirations would be a mirage if the environment is not opened up and created for other countries to come in and do business.??
He said this, yesterday, while receiving a delegation of members of the British parliament who paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House, Minna.
The Governor noted that, as the eyes of Black Africa, Nigeria needed to do more to encourage other countries by providing the leeway in which people could come and do business, make money and enhance the development of the country and, invariably, the continent.??
Aliyu expressed concern over the stereotypical image of Nigeria held by some non-Nigerians while blaming the situation on lack of adequate knowledge and understanding of events that were happening in the country.??
He said that there were many who ascribed to Nigeria only Boko Haram and bombs’ explosion but noted that although the country could not deny having security challenges, most parts of the country were as peaceful as anywhere could be.??
“There is no way a sane, satisfied person would be recruited to kill somebody else.
It doesn’t happen. But it is so easy for such to happen here because the person who is poor, who is suffering extreme poverty is really susceptible or prone to manipulation and to whatever instigations that may be there”, the Governor stated.??
He expressed gratitude to Department for Foreign and International Development (DFID) and UNICEF for their assistance and cooperation with the State government in several development areas especially the education sector which has witnessed remarkable improvement in the enrolment figure of pupils from 612,000 to 1.3 million in four years.?
Earlier, the leader of delegation, Meg Hillier (MP), said that they were in the state to consolidate the existing relationship between United Kingdom and Nigeria and to partner with the state and indeed the Northern region in tackling some of its challenges especially in the areas of conflict and security, human rights, good governance and development as well as harnessing human potentials. ?