***as president distances Nigeria from Coalition of Islamic States against terrorism

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

ABUJA – Concerned over the falling oil prices, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia have resolved to work towards the rebounding of oil prices to better their economies.

Leaders of the two countries, President Mohammadu Buhari and King Salman Bin Abdul-Aziz made the commitment Tuesday in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia during a bilateral meeting.

The leaders agreed that since oil was the main stay of their economies, urgent steps needed to take to ensure the stability of oil market.

President Buhari at the meeting also revealed that Nigeria was not a member of the Coalition of Islamic states against terrorism which was formed middle of December, 2015 by islamic predominant states championed by Saudi Arabia.

Speaking against terrorism however, President Buhari stated that though Nigeria was not a part of the force, it shared the zeal of the coalition to stamp out terrorism.

The president who would be making an official comment since the formation of the group said Nigeria was also committed to defeating Boko haram insurgents.

“Even if we are not a part of it, we support you. I must thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the recent creation of a coalition to address the menace of international terrorism. Nigeria will support your efforts in keeping peace and stopping the spread of terror in your region. This is in consonance with our own commitment and on-going efforts in seeking to stamp out Boko Haram terrorists from the West African sub-region and Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC),” the President said.

President Buhari who was perturbed by the wave of terrorism called for collective effort to defeat the social vice.

“International terrorism made a statement by attacking one of the advanced countries by carrying out an attack on Paris in which 130 were killed. Now we have to come together to find a common solution to the problem of terrorism”, he said.

He thanked the Saudi government for it continuing support to Nigeria in the fight against terrorism.

Lending his voice on the crisis in Libya, President Buhari regretted that the late Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi recruited, trained and armed citizens of many states in the Sahel region.

He stated that Ghaddafi’s fall, “these mercenaries have returned to their countries, doing nothing but to shoot and kill.”

He cited Burkina Faso and Mali as the main victims but expressed happiness that the countries neighboring the Lake Chad have tightened their ranks to finish off the Boko Haram threat.

“Luckily, we have cultivated our neighbors. We are now working together against Boko Haram,otherwise the problem would have become worse”, he said.

The two leaders however hoped that the Libyan factions would soon see reason to reunite and restore fully their own country to prevent it from having a spiral effects.

The leaders also focused on trade between their states and agreed to give fresh impetus to the joint commission previously established in order to boost commercial and other activities to unify their peoples.

A statement from the presidential spokeman, Mallam Garba Shehu stated that King Salman while making his remarks commended the progress made by Nigeria in combating terrorism and promised to give further support and assistance.

He welcomed the support of the Nigerian government for the new ant-terrorism coalition and implored the President to consider its full membership.

King Salman pledged his full support and cooperation to Nigeria under its present leadership and directed all agencies of his government to follow up on the discussions.

“I now instruct my team to go and sit down with your relevant agencies to push forward cooperation between our states,” he said.