By Ahmed Idris
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday met behind close-door with President Adama Barrow of Gambia, saying development is usually the first casualty in an unstable polity.
The meeting took place at Presidential Villa in Abuja.
“The best route to national development is stability. When a country is not stable, you spend most of your financial resources on security. That is the money that should have gone into education, infrastructure, and generating employment for the people, particularly youths,” he said.
He congratulated President Barrow for stabilising Gambia after his emergence, following the impasse caused by his immediate predecessor, Yahya Jammeh, who initially refused to vacate office, after losing the presidential election in December, 2016.
In his remarks, the Gambian President thanked President Buhari for the role Nigeria played in helping the country return to the path of constitutional democracy.
He also congratulated the Nigerian President on his emergence as the new chairman of ECOWAS, saying he was the first foreign leader to visit Abuja after the development.
