Germany’s Merkel arrives in Nigeria

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Nigeria Wednesday on the final leg of an African tour during which she is to hold talks with President Goodluck Jonathan expected to focus on energy cooperation.

Merkel was scheduled to meet Jonathan on Thursday at 0900 GMT, officials said.

She was met on arrival at Abuja airport by deputy foreign minister Viola Onwuliri and other senior government officials and diplomats.

Jonathan in October launched a drive to attract foreign investors in a bid to boost electricity production in the world’s eighth largest oil exporter and Africa’s most populous nation.

The west African nation of 150 million which produces less than 4,000 megawatt of electricity is plagued by daily outages blamed on mismanagement and corruption.

Jonathan, who has promised to make improved power supply a key item on his government programme, plans to privatise electricity generation and distribution, and boost natural gas availability to fire new plants.

Merkel, who is on a three-nation African tour, arrived in Abuja from Luanda after a one-day visit to Angola.

She was in Kenya earlier this week.

Merkel is scheduled to leave Nigeria on Thursday, officials said.

AFP