He said this while speaking with State House Correspondents after he had an audience with Buhari at Aso rock villa, Abuja.
He said “it is a great pleasure and great honour to be back in Abuja again, especially at the start of a new and hopeful, very promising regime. I feel very happy it’s like coming back home.’’
He added that what gave him the confidence was the way the administration came in through a transition that had been very complex.
The envoy said “the boost is a plus to democracy not only in Nigeria but around the world, certainly in Africa.
“And it is important to the whole of the developing world that Nigeria should succeed, and that is my message to the President.’’
He said Buhari had confirmed to him that Nigeria was on `the new threshold that is upward and recognises its affinity to the developing countries, to Africa first of all, and to all the developing countries.’’
The former Commonwealth scribe, however, noted that there would always be challenges in administration.
Ramphal said the challenges came in different forms as leaders dealt with different persons.
“But, it is the basic challenge to the development, the basic challenge to democracy, the basic challenge to freedom in Africa as a whole.
“The challenges have been there; we have to struggle to be united against challenges,’’ he advised.
He, however, declined to comment on the problems in Nigeria, saying “it will be presumptuous for me to attempt to define them.
“What I do know is that from Nigeria this continent and the rest of the developing world expect leadership and we are confident that we will find that.’’
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ramphal spoke well of the Nigerian scribe of the same organisation, Chief Emeka Anyaoku.
He said “I was formerly Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, succeeded by my good friend, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, and together, we helped to steer the Commonwealth with the help of Nigeria to some of its most glorious achievements.’’