Buhari to address European Parliament Feb. 3 - EU head

President Muhammadu Buhari is billed to address the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, the Head of the EU Delegation to Nigeria, Mr Michel Arrion, has said.

Arrion, who disclosed this in Abuja on Wednesday at a news conference, said the President’s visit to the Parliament was at the invitation of the EU.

He explained that Buhari would deliver his speech to the over 750-member parliament from the 28 EU member countries. According to him, Buhari will afterwards, have personal sessions with the President of the European Commission.

He also input that the visit would centre on the President’s agenda of security, anti-corruption and economy development, among others. On security, he said the EU commended Buhari’s visit to Nigeria’s neighbours on regional collaboration against Boko Haram insurgency. He said the meeting would also discuss how the EU could cooperate with Nigeria to fight corruption and return stolen funds to Nigeria.

Arrion said the Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility signed between Nigeria and the EU on March 12, 2015, would be fine-tuned during Buhari’s visit. He said the EU would further put the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), with Nigeria on the front burner during Buhari’s visit.

The EU envoy declared that the signing of EPA would not be an invasion of the European products into the Nigerian markets. He said EU had signed the EPA agreement with ECOWAS while most African countries had ratified it but wondered why Nigeria had not. (NAN)