Sarkozy, Jonathan discuss security issues

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Sarkozy, Jonathan discuss security issues

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan meet in Paris.

26 November,2011 07:16 am

French President Nicolas Sarkozy met Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Jonathanin Paris to discuss bilateral relations.The two leaders also discussed problems of growing security risks around Nigeria, Jonathan said.Weve been working together in the Libya case, we worked together in the Cote dIvoire issue, and we are working together in the security issues that affect west Africa, north Africa, central Africa. So we discussed how we will strengthen our relationship in these areas to bring this crisis down -- this is quite a challenge, we have terrorism and related negative activities in the sub-region down -- and how the President of Nigeria will work with the President of France, and of course how our security apparatus will work together to see how we can control this area, said Jonathan after the meeting.France, Europe generally is is very close to Africa and when you have a major crisis in Africa it affects Europe, he added.Nigeria also faces the problem of piracy taking place off its coast and targeting the oil industry.Pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, which stretches from Guinea to Angola, tend to raid ships for cash and cargo rather than hijacking the crews for ransom like their counterparts off the coast of Somalia.Nigeria is one of Africas biggest crude oil producers.