Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria Michael Freeman on Thursday, reiterated his country’s commitment to working closely with Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu to advance his administration’s renewed hope agenda.
Freeman, who is also Israel’s Permanent Representative to ECOWAS, disclosed this in an interview in Abuja.
The envoy who spoke in commemoration of the 76th independence anniversary of Israel, commended the long diplomatic relations between Israel and Nigeria.
Freeman said, “We are excited and happy to work with President Tinubu on his renewed hope agenda. We will certainly key into that. We want to partner with his government to make it succeed.
“Tinubu’s vision of creating a million new jobs in the digital economy is something we are partnering with and working with through i-FAIR programme, and we hope to announce that shortly.
“We are excited to work with him on economic issues, agriculture, health, and education; we see a bright future for Nigeria and Israel.
“Together, we can achieve amazing things and are excited about the future. Before now there has been a clarion call for a partnership between Israel and Nigeria’s security forces to tackle issues that pertain to the security of lives and property.
“Now, not much has been done in that regard, because it is like the more efforts are made, the more it has been foiled,” he said.
He decried global security challenges as hindering growth, saying Israel will explore its expertise, technology, and innovation through partnership with Nigeria to tackle issues in the area of security.
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The ambassador identified technology and agriculture as Israel’s spheres of comparative advantage among nations.
Freeman promised to work closely with state governments.
“I am willing to meet any governor in Nigeria to talk about the specific Israeli technologies that can work for them. Nigeria has an incredibly varied weather system.
“Not every country has the same weather. You are blessed with fantastic soil, great weather, great water, huge resources, and a population that is eager and excited to work and better itself.
“This is an amazing combination that we can work together to create the food basket of Africa, for all intents and purposes inside Nigeria,” he added.
NAN
