The Federal Capital Minister led a team of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), who presented the Turkish government with a $1 million support fund.
Bello and the other delegation members were welcomed by Ambassador Mevlüt avuşolu, the Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara, the country’s capital.
The horrific 7.8-magnitude earthquake on February 6 that killed around 50,000 people, including former Chelsea and Ghanaian star Christian Atsu, was immediately followed by the visit.
Due to the ongoing general election in Nigeria, Bellow pointed out that Buhari could not personally pay the nation a condolence visit.
The FCT minister sent the Turkish government and populace the President’s sincere sympathies for their loss in the tragic earthquake on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria government and people.
Also, the minister gave President Recep Tayyip Erdoan a $1,000,000 Central Bank of Nigeria Promissory Note in addition to Buhari’s condolence letter.
He explained that the token was a gift from the Nigerian government to aid in ongoing humanitarian efforts to lessen the consequences of the devastating earthquake.
While President Erdoan was unable to personally welcome the delegation due to the demands of directly managing humanitarian efforts in the 11 southern provinces affected by the earthquake—Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa, and Elazig—the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs explained this in his remarks.
The minister expressed gratitude to Buhari, the Nigerian administration, and the Nigerian people for their support of the Republic of Turkey during these challenging times, both financially and materially.
He mentioned that Hajiya Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, the First Lady of Nigeria, had previously sent 10,000 blankets to the humanitarian efforts in the nation on behalf of the African First Women Forum.
As of February 23, 2023, no fewer than 43,000 deaths had been confirmed, and 14 million people in 11 regions of the nation had been impacted, avuşolu informed the Nigerian delegation. He continued by saying that the administration has decided to start constructing brand-new cities and all related infrastructure in all the disaster-affected areas.
While wishing Nigeria’s general elections success and peace, the minister reaffirmed that the Turkish government was dedicated to holding its upcoming general election, which is set for June 18, 2023, by the country’s constitution, despite the catastrophic impacts of the earthquake.