Abuja – The Sudanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Ibrahim Bushra, has called for stronger economic relations between Sudan and Nigeria.
Bushra made the call in Abuja on Wednesday when he paid a courtesy visit to the Acting Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr Jones Afolabi.
According to him, five million Nigerians now reside in Sudan while thousands of Nigerian students are studying in different universities in that country.
“The relationship between Nigeria and Sudan is very old – deeply rooted in history.
“In Sudan more than 5 million Sudanese are of Nigerian origin.
“The blood relationship and the kinship is very strong
“But the other kind of relationship is far beyond our aspirations especially the economic cooperation.
“It is still below our expectations.
“The cultural relationship is very good. Thousands of Nigerians students are now residing in Sudan, thousands in different universities but we want more.”
The envoy said that his country was poised to the boost bilateral economic relations with Nigeria.
He said that he had been meeting with some ministries and establishments in Nigeria with a view to strengthening the economic relations between the two countries.
“On Tuesday I met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama.
“It was a very good meeting just in the same context of how to boost our relations and cooperation.’’
Bushra said that his visit to NAN was to “create some sort of relationship” with the agency.
He called for stronger collaboration between NAN and the Sudanese News Agency to further strengthen the relationship between the two countries.
Earlier in his remarks, Afolabi assured the envoy of the agency’s readiness to work closely with the Sudanese Embassy in publicising the latter’s activities and projecting its image.
“We have news exchange programmes with other foreign news agencies, where by the whole world can pick what is happening about a particular issue
“We have a wide coverage which gives us an edge over other media.
“We will cooperate with you and partner with you to ensure that your work is made easy (and) to ensure that whatever you are doing is known all over Africa.” (NAN)
