Nigerian Ambassador Presents Letters of Credence to Gabonese President

Michael Olugbode

The Nigerian Ambassador to Gabon, Raymond Brown, has presented his letters of credence to the Gabonese President, Ali Bongo Ondimba.

The ceremony took place yesterday at the presidency in Gabon, which lasted for ten minutes.

Brown said the Gabonese president, having received his letters and exchange pleasantries, stated that Nigeria and Gabon have a lot of work to do in the areas of fighting insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea, piracy, fight against terrorism and Boko Haram, as well as further broadening the relations between both countries.

He expressed his joy to President Muhammudu Buhari for sending me to represent him in Gabon.

In response, “I informed him that I would meet with the Minister of Foreign, H.E. Pacome Moubelet Boubeya on June 15, 2021, and discussed the need for both countries to cooperate in the fight against insecurity, increase the flow of free trade, resuscitate the moribund bilateral relations between both countries, and expedite a scheduled Nigerian direct flight to Gabon considering the huge population of Nigerians in the country and business opportunities. I explained the difficulty our people are faced with when travelling to Nigeria. For a flight of less than an hour to Nigeria, they spend 24hours and reroute either to France, Ethiopia or Lome to and from Gabon.

“In further discussion, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, affirmed that there is a lot of work to be done. He reiterated the need for me to visit the Special Economic Zone, NKOK, where the Gabonese government process their woods for export and solicited for Nigerian companies to take advantage since the Gabonese Government has a lot to learn in terms of Nigeria expertise.

He also solicited Nigeria’s support in Gabon’s quest to join the Commonwealth of Nations.