The G-7 group of industrialised nations has resolved to support President Muhammadu Buhari, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media, Malam Garba Shehu, has said in a statement.

Shehu said the group made the promise when the president met with the G7 leaders on Monday.

He said the group took the step in acknowledgment of the manner in which Buhari emerged as president and the tremendous challenges facing the administration, especially in its efforts to combat Boko Haram.

Shehu said that “at the end of the presentation he made on Monday, the G7 leaders said to him that they recognised the president’s massive amount of confidence and expectations behind his government.

“They acknowledged him as having emerged from an election adjudged to be the freest in the country’s electoral history but regretted the severe handicaps his new administration has to face from the outset.

“They told President Buhari that they took cognizance of the fact of the several handicaps, including the lack of resources, leaving him with a government over-stretched in capacity, itself riddled with mismanagement,” Shehu said.

The statement said that the group “noted that the country’s Army lacked training and equipment with little or no will to engage.

“In recognition of the fact that the security threat of the Boko Haram had gone beyond Nigeria, equally affecting other countries in the region, the G7 conceded that no one country can tackle it alone.

“They expressed warm sentiments towards the Nigerian leader and praised him for reaching out to the country’s neighbours and the group of industrialised nations within a week of his takeover of government,” he also said.

Shehu said that in view of the seriousness Buhari had shown in tackling the problem, the group promised to “engage, cooperate and collaborate” with the Buhari administration in tackling the serious problems that Nigeria faced.

He said the leaders requested Buhari to come up with the specifics on his requirements and assured him that they would study the requirements either individually or collectively and offer help.

“They asked to know the nature and the scale of the problems in order to know the nature and the scale of the assistance they will provide. Suffice it to say that they assured President Buhari that 'Nigeria will find a partner in the G7,’’ the statement added.

It said that Buhari, who had the privilege of being the first to address the G7 among the invited presidents and prime ministers, was warmly received at the summit.

The president returned to Nigeria in the early hours of Tuesday. (NAN)

•Photo shows President Buhari at G-7 Summit

Update news