Swiss government signs agreement with Nasarawa state government
 The
Government of Switzerland has signed a cooperation agreement with the
Nasarawa State Government to supply water to Bassa resettlement villages in
Toto local government area. The Swiss Federal Councillor for Economic
Affairs and Deputy President of Switzerland, Mr. Pascal Couchepin and
Nasarawa state Governor Abdullahi Adamu, signed the agreement respectively.
In an address at the signing
ceremony that took place Sunday, June 03, 2001, at the Nicon Noga Hilton
hotel in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, Governor Adamu stated that the
agreement was traceable to the period when his government was seeking
assistance to lessen the burden of bringing back the displaced Bassa’s to
their ancestral home. He stated that the Swiss embassy was a ready ally in
the provision of such assistance and that the signing of this agreement was
the culmination of discussions in this enterprise.
 Governor
Adamu used the occasion to express his immense gratitude to the Swiss
government for the high level of cooperation existing between the
Switzerland and Nigeria. He hoped that this agreement would be the beginning
of future cooperative endeavours between the state and the Swiss government.
He said Nasarawa state was an agrarian state in need of investments in
agriculture, information technology and tourism.
Speaking earlier, the Swiss Federal
Councillor for Economic Affairs, Mr. Couchepin stated that the agreement was
significant to his government because it was the beginning of the broadening
of relations between Switzerland and Nigeria. He said that with the return
of democracy to Nigeria, Switzerland was ready to encourage economic
relations between the two countries.
The agreement makes provision for
funds worth 100,000.00 [One Hundred Thousand] Swiss Francs, equivalent of
$70,000.00, for the provision of portable water to the Bassa resettlement
villages in Toto local government area.
The Swiss Federal Minister is in
Nigeria with a 21-man business delegation in the fields of banking,
engineering and social development.
The Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria,
Mr. Rudolf Knoblauch, members of the Nasarawa state executive council and
members of Councillor Couchepin’s delegation witnessed the signing
ceremony.
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