Hollande disclosed this yesterday after a closed-door bilateral meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari who is on a three-day official visit to France at the Elsee Palace in Paris.
At a joint press conference, the French President said his government was concerned about the increasing spate of insecurity in Nigeria and the entire West Africa and was ready to render support in tackling extremism.
Hollande explained that as an intervention approach to assist in the fight, France last year hosted a Regional Summit on Security in Paris which brought together the affected countries to chat the way forward.
“We provide all of the support to the countries in the region which are affected by this cult and in Nigeria, we want to provide support and solidarity,” he noted.
He commended Buhari for taking steps to tackle insurgency particularly the moving of military command to Maiduguri.
He also disclosed that France had concluded arrangements to invest €130million in the development of infrastructure in Nigeria for rebuilding of roads, provision of electricity and water supply.
According to him, despite the fall in the price of crude oil in the international market which has affected Nigerian expected revenue, the country’s economy still remained strong.
“The Nigerian economy remains strong, so, France wants to be doing business in the country.”
In his remarks, Buhari thanked the French president for his government’s interest in assisting Nigeria and expressed the readiness of his administration to partner with France for the over all development of the country.
The president said: “We have to depend on France and the other G7 countries for support to fight piracy.
Yesterday’s meeting also enabled the two leaders to discuss the Memorandum of Understanding to build a €30million project solar power plant in a local government of Osun State capacity of the solar power plant is 10 to 14 megawatts.
The leaders used the opportunity to also discuss an earlier agreement on the establishment of a joint committee to increase trade and investment.
Buhari is expected to return to Abuja tuesday.
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