NASSAU, Bahamas, August 8, 2023 – Prime Minister Philip E. Davis today met with Dr. Benedict Okey Oramah, President of the African Exim Bank, and Olusegun Obasanjo. former President of Nigeria, at the Office of the Prime Minister.
Noting on his Facebook page that these are “exciting times as The Bahamas strengthens trade ties with Africa,” Prime Minister Davis added, “We warmly welcome African Exim Bank’s new presence in the Caribbean and anticipate a fruitful partnership with the Bahamas Development Bank. My administration remains dedicated to forging relationships that drive our nation’s economic growth.”
We decided to share the photos taken during the meeting along with the Prime Minister’s comments with readers of BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, which has a huge following among the Bahamian diaspora across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom as well as in The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Born March 5, 1937, Olúṣẹ́gun Ọbásanjọ́ served as Nigeria’s head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its president from 1999 to 2007. Ideologically a Nigerian nationalist, he was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from 1998 to 2015, and since 2018.
Obasanjo was educated largely in Abeokuta, Ogun State. Joining the Nigerian Army, where he specialised in engineering, he spent time assigned in the Congo, Britain, and India, rising to the rank of major. In the latter part of the 1960s, he played a senior role in combating Biafran separatists during the Nigerian Civil War, accepting their surrender in 1970.
In 1975, a military coup established a junta with Obasanjo as part of its ruling triumvirate. After the triumvirate’s leader, Murtala Muhammed, was assassinated the following year, the Supreme Military Council appointed Obasanjo as head of state. Continuing Murtala’s policies, Obasanjo oversaw budgetary cut-backs and an expansion in access to free school education.
Obasanjo has been described as one of the great figures of the second generation of post-colonial African leaders. He received praise both for overseeing Nigeria’s transition to representative democracy in the 1970s and for his Pan-African efforts to encourage cooperation across the continent.
