President Quattara and Buhari

News Agency of Nigeria

President Alassane Quattara of Cote D’Ivoire on Monday said President Muhammadu Buhari has shown a great leadership with the fight against Boko Haram, insecurity in the sub region and also on economic matters.

President Alassane Quattara spoke after a closed door meeting with President Buhari the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Monday’s meeting was the first between Quattara and Buhari since the inauguration of the Nigerian President on May 29, 2015.

“The leadership of Nigeria is quite important to all of us which is something that is obvious but I think it needs to be said,” the Ivorian President told reporters after the closed door meeting with his Nigerian President.

“President Buhari has shown a great leadership with the fight against Boko Haram, insecurity in the sub region and also on economic matters.

“I expressed to him the fact as an economist and having worked in Nigeria many years ago, I am impressed by the measures which have been implemented to lift Nigeria out of recession.

“Nigeria has seen sharp drop in the price of oil and Cote D’Ivore has also experienced an important decrease in the price of cocoa.

“As you are all aware, Cote D’Ivore produces 40 percent of world cocoa two million tons and the price dropped early this year by 40 percent.

“So I expressed to him my admiration for all the measures which have been taken to lift Nigeria out of recession and to wish all the Nigeria people well.

“Because our sub region has made a lot of progress over the past few years and we need to strengthen the bilateral relationship between Cote D’Ivore and Nigeria.

“This is what we discussed and we have committed ourselves to do so.

Quattara added that they discussed how to strengthen existing bilateral relations between Nigeria and cote d’I voire.

Alhassane Ouattara also said that President Buhari had accepted to be part of the African Union summit slated for the end of November in Abidjan, Cote D’ivoire.

Outtara stressed the need to deepen democratic governance in the sub-region, saying his meeting with President Buhari focused on political situations in Togo and Liberia.

“We also discussed the situation in Togo and situation in Liberia on those we have complete consensus on how we should go about to strengthen democracy in our sub region.’