By Omeiza Ajayi

Federal Capital Territory, FCT, minister, Nyesom Wike, has expressed his desire to painstakingly follow through all bilateral agreements his administration would enter into with anyone or group.

According to him, gone are the days bilateral agreements were not followed to a logical conclusion.

Wike, who spoke yesterday when he received in audience the Irish Ambassador to Nigeria, Peter Ryan, regretted that several bilateral agreements had ended at the discussion level.

He, therefore, urged the visiting ambassador to take advantage of the vast arable land in the nation’s capital territory to strengthen the partnership between both countries.

“Relationships should be beneficial. I won’t be in a hurry to enter into arrangements that end immediately after discussions.

“Nigeria has strong ties with the Republic of Ireland and so we will like to leverage on that, especially in the area of Agriculture which Ireland is known for.”

Earlier, Ryan said his country was willing to partner with the FCT Administration, especially in the areas of education, agriculture and information and communication technology, ICT.

He said the Republic of Ireland had a very large Nigerian population, with many of them making remarkable contributions to the economy of Ireland especially in the area of Sports and ICT, noting that the Republic of Ireland has a lot of partnership with several capitals in the world, said he sees the potentials in Abuja and promised to connect the FCTA to the vibrant cultural ecosystem in his country.

He said:  “Education is very important to us and has helped us achieve the success we have in the area of technology.

“Our mission is very much the same, Ireland is world class in a number of areas, one of them is agriculture and education.

“In Ireland, we intend to be very practical as we know that we can’t do everything, so in things we do, we try to do best we can.

“From the first week of December, we are bringing to Abuja, the head of the largest vocational education provider in the land of Ireland. He will be here, and has no agenda, so he is at your disposal.

“In the area of agriculture, we had a visit earlier in September by our Minister of Agriculture to Nigeria and as a follow up to the visit, we can share the lessons and experience by connecting his excellency (the FCT Minister) directly to the experts who run an organization called Sustainable Food System.”

Vanguard News