Pakistan is calling for closer defence cooperation with Nigeria. Pakistan’s ambassador to Nigeria, Ahmed Ali Sirohey, says this will help connect back to the historical relationship the two nations developed in the medical, engineering, agricultural, and educational fields from the sixties through the eighties.

Mr. Sirohey, speaking at the 72nd National Day anniversary of the Asian nation in Abuja at the weekend, said it is time to take the collaboration between the two countries to the field of agriculture, irrigation, power generation, small and medium enterprises and combat terrorism.

“Today Pakistan is the fourth largest exporter of rice in the world, a leading exporter of textiles and produces virtually anything under the sun,” he said, adding that there is a lot this can contribute to Nigeria’s national development.

The occasion attended by members of the diplomatic corps in Abuja, traditional rulers, the business community and top government officials doubled as the country’s fifty years of formal diplomatic relations with Nigeria.

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Viola Onwuliri thanked Pakistan for supporting Nigeria’s aspirations during the 37th International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) meeting in Montreal, Canada. She further praised the close collaboration between Nigeria and Pakistan in global affairs, the two countries being members of the Commonwealth, D8, the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) as well as the UN.

Ms. Onwuliri also praised the exhibition of Pakistani products and the mounting of the Pakistan Flag at the High Commission.

Tracing the heroic struggle of the Pakistani people, Mr. Sirohey expressed hopes for a stronger Nigeria based on lessons from over seventy years of Pakistan’s own challenge with building a nation virtually from the scratch with “no resources and not even a capital at inception.”