A former Prime Minister of Britain, Boris Johnson, has said that he feels perfectly safe in Nigeria, contrary to the reports of widespread insecurity he read before his visit.
The former Prime Minister stated this on Thursday in Owerri, the Imo State capital, at the Imo State Economic Summit 2025.
At the summit hosted by Governor Hope Uzodimma, Johnson said: “I want you to know that when I decided to come to Owerri, I read some things, and there were people saying: ‘There may be some security problems in Nigeria. Have you heard that?’
“And I said: ‘Well, I am going to go anyway.’
“And let me ask you: do you feel safe here today in this conference?
“Yes, we all feel safe.
“And I feel perfectly safe.
“Thank you, governor, for what you are doing.”
Johnson praised Governor Uzodimma for his drive to provide 24-hour electricity for the people of Imo State as part of efforts to achieve economic transformation.
He said: “Your focus on electricity is completely right.
“What is the future?
“The future is AI.
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“For clean, sustainable electricity—and because of AI—it’s going to be colossal.
“I congratulate you for what you are doing to secure clean and sustainable power for Imo State and for the whole of Nigeria.”
Johnson said Nigeria and Britain share deep historic and cultural ties, strengthened by continuous exchanges of skilled professionals.
He added: “I am very proud of what we export to Nigeria.
“We send you pharmaceuticals, bankers, services of all kinds, automotive parts.
“And you send us so much in return: Oil and gas, Nollywood movies, brilliant doctors, nurses, technicians, and tech geniuses from Nigeria.
“We are very, very grateful.
“We send you former United Kingdom prime ministers, and you send us future United Kingdom prime ministers in the form of Kemi Badenoch.”
Also at the event were a former Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon; President Bola Tinubu, represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima; Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; and the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote.
