‘After 2 years, I’m still impressed by resilience, creativity of Nigerians’

It is my great pleasure to welcome you all, tonight, at this celebration of the French National Day. Let me first thank this very talented Nigerian choir, AMEMUSO Choir, which performed the two national anthems. They deserve your applause. Ladies and gentlemen, this national day commemorates the beginning of the French revolution, which put an […]

It is my great pleasure to welcome you all, tonight, at this celebration of the French National Day. Let me first thank this very talented Nigerian choir, AMEMUSO Choir, which performed the two national anthems. They deserve your applause. Ladies and gentlemen, this national day commemorates the beginning of the French revolution, which put an end to the absolute monarchy in France and opened the way for freedom, democracy, equality of rights for all citizens, but also a sense of openness and solidarity towards all humans and nations, all those values, which inspired so many other nations and are nowadays appreciated, if not always shared, all over the world.

In recent times, in many western countries, an adverse tendency appeared, to more inward-looking, to more selfishness, to building new walls, to evade common responsibilities. I am very proud that my country, through our recent presidential and parliamentary elections, did not engage into that direction. Our new President, M. Macron, stated very clearly that France will stand by its values. France will act resolutely in favour of the further development of the European Union, which remains the basis for a prosperous and peaceful Europe. France will assume its responsibilities towards global challenges, like climate change. We will promote free and fair trade relations, as well as support the implementation of the sustainable development goals.

We intend also to honour our commitments towards our African friends, in terms of security as well as development. We are strongly engaged in the common fight against terrorism. We helped Mali when terrorists were on the verge of taking control over that country. We then extended our effort to the whole sahelian region. Lately, we were instrumental in the creation of the G5 Sahel force, that common force of the five sahelian countries, which is built on the same model as the Multilateral Joint Task force to combat Boko Haram.

Concerning the Lake Chad Basin, we are very pleased by the determination showed by the Nigerian armed forces, and by the now positive cooperation between the neighboring countries. We will continue to support all efforts to restore security, both regionally and through our increasing cooperation with the Nigerian armed forces.

But France contributes also, bilaterally and through the EU, to relieve the suffering of the affected populations by financing humanitarian assistance. We try in the same way to support the efforts of the Nigerian government to diversify the economy and improve social services and infrastructures in the country. The French development agency finances projects in the power sector, in public transportation, in urban planning and in agriculture. We strongly encourage our companies to come to a country which is already our first trading partner in Africa.

After two years in this country and having visited many states, I am still, every day, surprised and impressed by the energy, the resilience, the creativity, the spirit of entrepreneurship of the Nigerian youth. They deserve more security and improved governance. And then they will impress the world, and set an example for Africa.

Being the speech of Denys Gauer, Ambassador of France to Nigeria, presented on the 14th of July, the French National Day, at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja.