Linus Aleke, Abuja
The Spanish authority, on Thursday pledged to help Nigeria tackle the twin evil of terrorism and insurgency, currently plaguing the nation.

The Spanish Foreign Minister, Mr. Jose Manuel Albares made this promise in Abuja, during a bilateral meeting with his Nigerian counterpart, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, at the Headquarters of Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to him, “Our bilateral relations are getting deeper, and more aspects have been covered. Security is a challenge to Nigeria, and we want to offer our support for Nigeria in this rare challenge. We expressed our solidarity with Nigeria in the fight against terrorism, this is a threat that Spain knows very well because of our recent history. We commend the efforts of the Nigerian government in the fight against violence and terrorism and at the same time we want to help Nigeria to address the root causes of these conflicts”.

The Spanish Minister also said, both countries have excellent cooperation in maritime security, adding that Spanish fleet plays important roles in the fight against maritime insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea since 2015.

FG urges state governors to urgently tame rising out-of-school children

“We are starting a new stage in our relations, it is an old relation that has very solid economic ties but now we are enlarging it and improving it for the benefits of our two people in many other fields,” he said.

Mr. Albares said, Nigeria is one of the great regional actors, the biggest economy in Africa and an absolute pillar of ECOWAS and Sub Saharan Africa.

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said, Nigeria is one of the primary suppliers in the field of gas and petroleum to Spain.

He noted that with the challenges, “we are facing today globally, this is a very important relationship, and we also want to diversify our economic cooperation”.

Onyeama said, Spain is a big country and a big player in the European Union (EU) and globally.

He noted that Nigeria wants to see increased trade, as the country also seek to diversify away from fossil fuels and to deal and cooperate in other economic fields.

“We are particularly delighted as we speak about security, not just military security but also food security and Spain is a huge investor in Africa’s agriculture sector and has some big companies in Nigeria, such as GB fruits and others  that are doing very important and very productive work with Nigeria in the agricultural sector.

So, we are delighted with the cooperation we are seeing in that area and also in the framework of the EU we are delighted with the cooperation that we have in addressing insurgency and terrorism in the Sahel and this part of Africa. We will continue to work with you and with the global community, the UN the EU to definitely address the security challenges that we are facing in our sub region, and we really appreciate the support and cooperation of your country,” he concluded.

Earlier, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of the Kingdom of Spain, Mr. Jose Manuel Albares bestowed a posthumous

Spanish Civil Merit Award on late Ambassador Ademola Seriki, former Nigerian Ambassador to Spain.