President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Babagana Kingibe as his Special Envoy to Chad and the Lake Chad Basin Region.
The Presidency disclosed this in a statement on Monday evening, adding that the appointment would be in consonance with the resolution of the Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Lake Chad Basin Commission Member Countries, on the situation in Chad on the 25th of May, 2021.
What the statement said
The Special Envoy will, amongst others:
(i) Monitor developments in Chad and the Lake Chad Basin Region;
(ii) Aid reconciliation and seamless progress towards a return to democratic rule at the end of the current Transitional Military Council’s rule;
(iii) Collaborate with member countries and partners in the region with similar initiatives to restore stability, promote peace & security; and
(iv) Promote any other initiative ancillary to the restoration of peace & security in Chad, North-East Nigeria & the Lake Chad Basin Region.
They added that the Federal Government was determined to lead regional security efforts that would stabilize the Lake Chad Basin Region, bring peace to Chad, and ultimately eliminate the Boko Haram insurgency.
Mr Kingibe is a multi-lingual diplomat, who has served the nation as Federal Permanent Secretary, Secretary to the Constituent Assembly, Cabinet Minister, and Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
What you should know
Nairametrics reported earlier this year that President Muhammadu Buhari had stated that Nigeria was engaging with relevant stakeholders on recharging Lake Chad, as it is important that there be water transfer to the Lake from the Congo Basin.
The FG also added that it would focus on 3 areas aimed at supporting Project Lake Chad (PROLAC) including Regional and National Coordination platforms and Local Capacity Building for reinforcing regional dialogue and data collection and dissemination, institutional capacity building, and others.
