President Muhammadu Buhari
Full Speech in
Chad 04 June 2015 1. It is a
great pleasure for
me to be in Ndjamena, on an
official visit, within
the first week of my assumption
of office as
President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria. 2. I
want to extend my profound
gratitude to my
brother and friend, His
Excellency Idriss Deby
Itno, President of the Republic
of Chad and
indeed, the people of Chad for
according me an
elaborate and generous African
welcome. 3. I
also want to thank President
Deby for visiting me
before my inauguration and
more importantly, for
being present at my swearing-
in ceremony in
Abuja on 29th May 2015.I
regard these acts as
eloquent demonstration of true
friendship and
brotherliness that exist between
our countries’
and people 4. Your Excellency, I
am in Ndjamena
today to convey to you, your
Government and the
people of Chad, Nigeria’s
profound appreciation
of the invaluable support you
have rendered in
the fight against insurgency and
sustained acts
of terrorism in the north east of
my country.
Your troops have stood
shoulder-to-sho ulder and
fought gallantly with ours, in the
fight against the
forces of evil. This is a
remarkable show of good
neighborliness, which we must
reinforce in the
years ahead. 5. It is for this
reason, that I have
committed myself to work for
the security,
peace, prosperity and stability of
our region. In
this regard, I cannot over
emphasize the
importance of cooperation and
collaboration in
tackling our common
challenges, particularly in
the areas of security and
economic development.
This is because security and
development are
mutually reinforcing. 6. Your
Excellency, permit
me to note that our security is
intricately linked.
This compels us to cooperate
fully on security
issues in a robust and sustained
manner. To this
end, we must redouble our
efforts to
operationalize the Multi-National
Joint Task
Force with its Headquarters in
Ndjamena. I
believe the Task Force will
stabilize the areas
that have been ravaged by the
Boko Haram
insurgency when it becomes
fully operational. I
am very confident that, Insha
Allah, this
insurgency will be brought to an
end soon. 7. A
sad consequence of the
insurgency is the
harrowing images of our
citizens, beamed across
the globe, who have been
forced to flee their
homes and livelihood in search
of safety and
succor. We must restore their
dignity and give
them the comfort they need. 8.
But, while work
to solve our security challenge,
we must
recognize that this can only be a
foundation for
meeting the economic needs
and welfare of our
people. In this regard, my
expectation is that we
must unleash our full potential
and work
assiduously to turn the Lake
Chad Basin
Commission into a veritable
agent of
development. 9. Nigeria and
Chad are bound by
nature. This imposes on us the
responsibility of
finding appropriate synergy in
dealing with an
array of issues, notably effective
border
management, migration, and
movement of goods,
people and services. 10. At the
regional and
international level, we will need
to strengthen our
collaboration and consultation
on issues of
common interest. I am pleased
to note that
Nigeria and Chad are both
members of the
African Union Peace and
Security Council, as
well as the United Nations
Security Council. This
is an opportunity for us to lend
mutual diplomatic
support to each other. Indeed,
our officials must
consult more regularly. 11. Your
Excellency, I will
return to Nigeria with the
assurance that Nigeria
and Chad are poised to
consolidate and deepen
their cooperation. 12. May I
therefore, once
again, thank you for your
friendship, hospitality
and warmth that you have
generously displayed
during my short but memorable
visit to your
country. I thank you!
T

The clueless old man