BY DANIEL IDONOR, USA
NEW YORK— THE Secretary-General of the United Nations, UN, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, has expressed satisfaction with rescue efforts and quick response by President Goodluck Jonathan and Nigeria to the UN staff in the aftermath of the bomb blast at the UN building in Abuja.

Ban who was speaking when he received President Jonathan at the UN headquarters, said the UN is grateful to Nigeria for the hospitality, political, material and security support provided to the agency and its staff.

Meanwhile, President Jonathan, at a separate meeting with Mr. Klaus Schwab, Founder/Executive of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in New York, said the Administration aims at creating more sources of income and strengthening the economic power of Nigerians.

The President said the Nigerian economy was being restructured by reducing the control and participation of government in many sectors, adding that assistance from the WEF would help in this regard.

One way Jonathan intends to make Nigerians richer in the next four years, he said, is through a transparent investment of over $20 billion in the economy, directly from annual budgetary provisions; and this would attract Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, from investors, thereby strengthening and growing the economy. Ban told Jonathan that “you provided full political, material and security support to our staff after the unfortunate incident, and this is very much appreciated by the whole UN family.”

The UN scribe also expressed appreciation for President Jonathan’s leadership in the Economic Community of West African States, and in resolving the crisis in Cote d’Ivoire, the sustained help and support to Liberia, as well as to Guinea Bissau.

He said, “your sustained support for Liberia has been invaluable, and is essential for a peaceful and transparent elections in that country.”

Responding, Jonathan expressed condolence to the UN family for the terrorist attack on the UN building in Abuja, and said progress had been made in the hunt for the perpetrators of the dastardly act.

“Terrorism is new to our security architecture, but our personnel are doing their best, and the perpetrators will be brought to book”, he stated, adding that some of the suspects had already been apprehended.

On the efforts to ensure peaceful elections in Liberia, the President told Ban that ECOWAS would support the UN with police and para-military personnel in the run-up and immediately after the elections, to ensure that the small arms and weapons being controlled by non-state actors are not used to mar the exercise.

President Jonathan said ECOWAS countries were not in a position to provide the funds required for this exercise, and sought the support of the UN.

The President acknowledged the challenges of bunkering and piracy in the Gulf of Guinea and Nigeria’s efforts to check it, and offered to consult with the actors in the current situation in Sudan.

He also explained the issues delaying the signing into law of the Health Bill, and assured that those would be sorted out.

Jonathan, during the business meeting with Mr. Klaus Schwab, Founder/Executive of the World Economic Forum, WEF, said “we are working hard to create more sources of income for Nigerians, to raise the living standards and reduce the migration of Nigerians to other countries, and for this, you need a lot of resources”, he stated.

The President said the Economic Management Team had been carefully constituted to provide a very wide range of advice from both public and private sector perspectives to further propel the growth of the economy.

He welcomed WEF plan to hold its 2014 Summit on Africa in Nigeria, and Mr. Schwab’s proposal to consult with the Minister of Finance and set up an informal working group to attract foreign direct investment to Nigeria.

Earlier, Mr. Klaus Schwab, WEF founder had said Nigeria was an important nation that must be supported to rapidly develop and attain its potentials.

He said WEF was looking forward to President Jonathan’s participation at the Forum in Davos, during which major global economic decisions are taken, and proposed the setting up of an informal group to work towards attracting investments into Nigeria.

Still on matters of the economy, President Jonathan said the administration was working hard to encourage private sector investments into Nigeria, adding that there were many opportunities for investors in the country.

He was speaking to Mr. Daniel Roberts, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer of Merchants Bank of California, who is exploring investment opportunities in Nigeria.

President Jonathan said Nigeria’s local banks alone cannot support the projected expenditure of $20bn over the next four years, and assured Mr. Roberts that the country’s economy was ready to absorb the investments.

Mr. Roberts had told the President that his company had a $1bn line of credit for investments in the oil sector, and was prepared to explore other sectors of the economy.

Also thursday, President Jonathan held discussions with President Abdullaye Wade of Senegal on the efforts of the Economic Community of West African States to ensure peace and transparency in forthcoming elections in Liberia, as well as the situation in Cote d’Ivoire.