We're committed to helping Africa's poor, says Charles

The Prince of Wales today reaffirmed Britain's commitment to help improve the lives of some of Africa's poorest people.

Charles spoke of the partnership between the UK and Nigeria to tackle the west African nation's pressing social, education and health problems as he toured the north of the country.

The heir to the throne made the comments as he visited the historic city of Dawakin Kudu and watched as traditional craftsmen and women created ceramics and textiles which have made the settlement famous.

Speaking in the crowded village centre as hundreds of residents looked on, Charles said: "To maintain these traditional skills and to equip young people to diversify into new areas requiring new skills, communities clearly need a healthy and educated population to drive and maintain economic activity.

"These two qualities are very much at the centre of the practical help which Britain is seeking to give Northern Nigeria."

Nigeria is rich with oil but little of the industry's money flows north.

These communities, largely Muslim, are some of the poorest areas in Nigeria, which have suffered from endemic corruption, long periods of military misrule and long-term mismanagement.

The UK's Department for International Development (DfID) has been supporting the country since 1997 and its financial assistance, which in 2001/02 was £20 million, will rise to £100 million in 2007/08.

The money benefits all of Nigeria but there is a greater emphasis in the north which has a more urgent need and DfID has opened an office in Kano in the north of the country, a move which the Prince's visit to the area also marked.