Your Excellency, welcome to Nigeria. May we possess a peep in your person and background and what might have educated your trip to Nigeria at this time?

The primary purpose of my visit is to pay homage to the good relationship between our countries. And it is important to me to encourage closer friendship between Nigeria and Germany. As the most populous state in Africa and an economical colossus, Nigeria is an increasingly significant political and company associate for Germany.

Naturally, I am not unaware your country also faces great challenges, specifically foreign terrorism, flight and displacement, and poverty reduction. These will play a job in my talks with politicians and representatives of the civil society in Abuja. I also wish to pay homage to the accomplishments of the United Nations and aid organisations, which work to support hundreds of tens of thousands of internally. From whom I want to discover concerning the interfaith dialogue in your nation, I am eagerly anticipating my meeting with representatives of the various spiritual groups. And I look forward to giving a speech in the seat of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and also to meeting Nigerians from the worlds of business and culture in Lagos. Incidentally, a high-ranking German company delegation is accompanying me.

Another essential reason for my visit will be to honour the recent democratic http://www.imobilis.co.mz handover of power in your nation. I come from East Germany, the GDR — that's, the section of our state that was under communist rule and was democratic or not free. As a Protestant minister, I actively supported the civil rights movement in the GDR, which was particularly notable in church groups. We fought for human rights in 1989, the rule of law and democracy, freedom — and realized them after almost 40 years of repression and too little independence. This really is why my visit to your young democracy is also something that means an excellent deal to me on an individual level.

At the advent of the present management, there was enthusiasm in the German government, among many industrialised countries to help in combating terrorism, insurgency, and its own likes in Nigeria. How has Germany helped?

The violence is becoming a worldwide menace. In Nigeria, terrorism comes in the form of Boko Haram, which poses a danger to security, liberty, democracy and human rights. Politically, Germany stands side by side with you in the fight against this.

A global challenge like terrorism needs a globally coordinate answer. As an associate of the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS, Germany is, hence, also contributing military resources to the struggle from the terrorist organisation that is IS. The German government is supporting the development of effective operational measures to fight terrorism on the international level and is involved in international anti-terrorism initiatives in organisations such as NATO, the European Union, the United Nations and the OSCE. We are taking an all-inclusive approach. If we want to battle terrorism and violent extremism forever and effectively, we additionally have to address its societal, political and economic causes and to reinforce human rights and rule of law constructions.

A lot of the criticism contrary to the German government accepting Nigerian refugees from other countries, especially in the Middle-East has come from among Germans, what efforts are being designed to reassure the citizens the inflow of refugees will not have the negative impacts they fear?

Fortunately, most Germans continue to take a nuanced view of the refugee problem. Many German citizens remain ready to help people in need of protection, including war refugees from Syria. But people in Germany are also discussing the truth that we cannot take in everyone who'd prefer to come and remain in our nation. The large amounts of refugees is a reason for worry to section of the population. And politicians are increasingly taking note of these issues. By The Way, the intense public debate that we're now conducting demonstrates that quite many Germans do not simply say «no» to taking in refugees. However, rather several men and women fear as regards our power to help, that we're simply reaching a limit. As a consequence, German politicians will work quite hard and on many levels both to decrease the number of refugees also to integrate those in our nation into German society. The latter can only be performed if Europeans work together. Beyond that, dealing with flight and tackling the reasons why people flee — such as war poverty and climate change — is a task for the international community.

German companies or others with German associations that do business in Nigeria have tended to prosper causing what some analysts see as a relationship which is skewed in favour of Germany, or an imbalance in trade; how does the German government expect to aid correct this?

An imbalance in our trade connections to the disadvantage in Nigeria? That is not what I could see. The figures tell another story. Nigeria is Germany's second-biggest trading partner in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the German market imports much more from Nigeria than it exports there.

However, it is still very important for Nigeria to diversify its market if I see things accurately. German companies can play a part in this — not least since they are showing increasing interest in the Nigerian market. This is seen only in the German business people who are following me on my visit to your own state. Some German companies are investing in staff training and have already started manufacturing in Nigeria, so we can certainly say there is a new dynamism in our economic connections. But if Nigerian we wish to expand these relationships, the conditions for foreign investors must improve further. This involves improving infrastructure, adhering to contracts and working to set up a dependable administration.

What efforts is the German government making to help Nigeria with poverty reduction?

Nigeria can be an essential partner nation for Germany as regards development cooperation. Just recently, their co-operation further intensified. The projects focus on handling the intense poverty faced by large amounts of men and women in Nigeria and on giving low income groups new chances. As the Federal President, I don't belong to the government, so I'd only want to mention several examples of our development cooperation. These include support in setting up the Development Bank of Nigeria, as well as agricultural and environmental projects targeted at raising agricultural productivity and food security. There are also joint educational and training projects financed by Germany, like the Safe Schools Initiative targeted at enabling young people in regions that are rather unsafe to attend school. Our governments will also be working closely on sustainable economic development and in the power sector.

A particular initiative for refugees to support internally displaced persons as well as the host communities is a brand new development. This season, Germany will support this initiative for five years by providing funds of 13 million euros. Yet, I am particularly happy that so many German citizens who reside in Nigeria are committed to always finding ways to aid and fighting poverty.