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Tinubu To Macron: A Starved Nation Won’t Care About Weather, Environment

Published

11 months ago

November 29, 2024

Editor

President Bola Tinubu, Friday, at the prestigious Palais des L’Élysée, told France President, Emmanuel Macron, that a starved nation will not care about weather or environment, and that in the 21st century no child should go to bed hungry.

President Tinubu at a high-profile meeting with President Macron also affirmed Nigeria’s strong commitment to enhancing cooperation in key sectors such as food security, energy, solid minerals, education, and defense. At a joint press conference, President Tinubu highlighted the vast, yet largely untapped potential within Nigeria’s agricultural sector and beckoned international investors to capitalize on the nation’s welcoming investment climate.

Tinubu in a statement by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, said: “The French-Nigeria Business Forum is doing a lot already, but we need to do more on food security. We cannot help but invest in another’s country.”

He emphasised Nigeria’s flourishing financial sector as a facilitator for foreign investment, particularly from French enterprises, as part of the drive to bolster food security.

“Nigeria’s financial sector is evolving and flourishing. We are also creating grounds for investment in Nigeria’s economy for French nationals, especially in the area of food security.

“It is our responsibility to put together a food security programme for the private sector to come and invest in the country.

“We are working on stability and we are getting closer and closer, but we can do better and better,” the President stated.

President Tinubu said Nigeria’s economy was being repositioned for more Foreign Direct Investment that will directly impact the livelihood of the citizens.

“I can assure you that Nigeria is open for business and close to this, we have a vibrant youth population that is educated, and ready to be trained in various areas of entrepreneurship and development,” he said.

The President implored the French government to extend to Nigeria trainings that will develop the youthful population.

“Furthermore, we should de-risk the opportunities in the solid minerals. We have the potentials and we have agreed on a deeper and deeper relationship,” the President added.

President Tinubu noted that Nigeria, like most African nations, had been preoccupied with tackling issues of food security.

“A starved nation will not care about weather or environment, and in the 21st Century no child should go to bed hungry,” he told the French President, and his delegation.

“If an African child is given a glass of milk in a class, there will be no problem in getting him to return and stay in school to learn. The more educated the children are, the better it is for us,” he said.

On security, the President said: “Nigeria is a partner in progress. We are ready to partner France so that we can have security operations that will stop the challenge of migration.”

President Tinubu said the blue economy in Nigeria also provides a huge opportunity for investment, with unexplored potentials in fishery.

“In Lagos, we have tamed the Atlantic ocean. For us, fishery is an important aspect of investment.

“We want to assure the French investment community that Nigeria is open for business. It shall be easy in, and easy out,” the President noted.

President Macron acknowledged President Tinubu’s state visit as a milestone heralding deeper bilateral relationships, particularly emphasizing collaborative growth in creative industries and youth-focused initiatives.

The French President noted that the global humanitarian challenges could only be solved with governments working together.

“We have confidence that you, Mr President will reinforce our relationship with Nigeria, and it will cover the West Coast region, with ECOWAS playing the leading role.

“I will seek your leadership to work as partners of progress. You are the great leader of the great country in Africa.

“We appreciate your visionary leadership and energy in transforming the economy of your country. We will work together for collective, global success,” he said.

President Macron had earlier assured that he would encourage more investments in the solid minerals sector, with the signing of an agreement, during a political meeting where the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Mr. Dele Alake, made a presentation on the potentials.

Earlier, President Tinubu and First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu were welcomed with full honours at Hotel Les Invalides and Palais De l’Élysée by President Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron.

Headline

Afghanistan-Pakistan Border Clashes Escalate After Alleged Air Strikes

Published

20 hours ago

October 11, 2025

Editor

Afghanistan’s Taliban forces launched armed reprisals against Pakistani soldiers along the shared border on Saturday, accusing Islamabad of carrying out air strikes on its soil, senior officials from several provinces said Saturday.

On Thursday, two explosions were heard in the Afghan capital and another in the southeast of the country. The following day, the Taliban-run defence ministry blamed the attacks on Pakistan, accusing its neighbor of violating its sovereignty.

“In retaliation for air strikes carried out by the Pakistani army on Kabul,” Taliban forces are engaged “in heavy clashes against Pakistani security forces in various areas” along the border, the Afghan military said in a statement.

Islamabad did not confirm that it was behind Thursday’s attacks, but called on Kabul “to stop harbouring the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) on its soil.”

The TTP, trained in combat in Afghanistan and claiming to share the same ideology as the Afghan Taliban, is accused by Islamabad of having killed hundreds of its soldiers since 2021.

Taliban officials from Kunar, Nangarhar, Paktia, Khost, and Helmand provinces — all located on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan — confirmed that clashes were ongoing.

“This evening, Taliban forces began using weapons. We fired first light and then heavy artillery at four points along the border,” a senior official in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan, told AFP.

“Pakistani forces responded with heavy fire and shot down three Afghan quadcopters suspected of carrying explosives. Intense fighting continues, but so far, no casualties have been reported,” he continued.

– Uptick in violence –

In recent months, TTP militants have intensified their campaign of violence against Pakistani security forces in the mountainous areas bordering Afghanistan.

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to expel militants who use Afghan territory to launch attacks on Pakistan, an accusation denied by authorities in Kabul.

The TTP and its affiliates are behind most of the violence — largely directed at security forces.

Earlier this year, a UN report said the TTP “receive substantial logistical and operational support from the de facto authorities”, referring to the Taliban government in Kabul.

Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told parliament on Thursday that several efforts to convince the Afghan Taliban to stop backing the TTP had failed.

“We will not tolerate this any longer,” Asif said. “United, we must respond to those facilitating them, whether the hideouts are on our soil or Afghan soil.”

Earlier Saturday, the TTP claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in several districts in northwest Pakistan that killed 20 security officials and three civilians.

AFP

Headline

Taliban Attacks Kill 23 In Northwestern Pakistan

Published

1 day ago

October 11, 2025

Editor

The Pakistani Taliban on Saturday claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in several northwestern districts that killed 20 security officials and three civilians.

The attacks, which included a suicide bombing on a police training school, were carried out on Friday in several districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan.

Militancy has surged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since the withdrawal of US-led troops from neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021 and the return of the Taliban government in Kabul.

Eleven paramilitary troops were killed in the border Khyber district, while seven policemen were killed after a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into the gate of a police training school, which was followed by a gun attack.

Five people, including three civilians, were killed in a separate clash in Bajaur district, security officials told AFP on Saturday.

The Pakistani Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attacks in messages on social media. The group is separate from but closely linked with the Afghan Taliban.

The attacks came hours after Afghanistan’s Taliban government accused Pakistan of “violating Kabul’s sovereign territory”, a day after two explosions were heard in the capital.

Pakistan did not say if it was behind the blasts in Kabul, but said it had the right to defend itself against surging border militancy.

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to expel militants using Afghan territory to launch attacks on Pakistan, an accusation that authorities in Kabul deny.

The TTP and its affiliates are behind most of the violence — largely directed at security forces.

Including Friday’s attacks, at least 32 Pakistani troops and three civilians have been killed this week alone in the border regions.

AFP

Headline

US Threatens To Sanction Countries That Vote For Shipping Carbon Tax

Published

1 day ago

October 11, 2025

Editor

The United States on Friday threatened to impose sanctions and take other punitive action against any country that votes in favor of a carbon tax on maritime transportation to be implemented through a UN agency.

“We will fight hard to protect our economic interests by imposing costs on countries if they support” the Net Zero Framework, said a joint statement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his counterparts at the departments of energy and transportation.

Members of the London-based International Maritime Organization (IMO) are set to vote next week on the adoption of the Net Zero Framework (NZF) agreement aimed at reducing global carbon emissions from the shipping sector.

Washington, however, described the proposal as imposing “a global carbon tax on the world.”

Since returning to power in January, US President Donald Trump has reversed Washington’s course on climate change, denouncing it as a “scam” and encouraging fossil fuel use by deregulation.

In the statement, Rubio, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the Trump administration “unequivocally rejects” the NZF proposal.

They threatened a range of punishing actions against countries that vote in favor of the framework, including: visa restrictions; blocking vessels registered in those countries from US ports; imposing commercial penalties; and considering sanctions on officials.

“The United States will be moving to levy these remedies against nations that sponsor this European-led neocolonial export of global climate regulations,” the statement said.