JUST IN: 5 High-Profile Issues Buhari Discussed With Trump
by Gabriel Ogunjobi
Following the bilateral meeting between two world’s arguably most powerful Presidents, Donlad Trump and Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, nigeriancablenewsonline.com has considered it imperative to bring you the cogent topics that formed their discussion at the Oval office in the United States.
1. Denuclearization of Korean Peninsula
The Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari discussed with his American counterpart about the international issue related to the Korean region.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed last Friday to finally end a seven-decade war this year, and pursue the “complete denuclearization” of the
Korean Peninsula.
The president acknowledged the statesmanly efforts of Donald Trump towards the action of North Korea to withdraw nuclear weapon from the South Korea.
2. US – Nigerian Aircraft Deal
The United States has formally agreed to sell 12 Super Tucano A-29 planes and weapons worth $593 million, which includes thousands of bombs and rockets to Nigeria.
Speaking on the deal, Buhari ‘recognized the strong US support in Nigeria’s fight against terrorism and also appreciated very much the US’ agreement to sell twelve Super Tucano A-29 war planes and weapons to Nigeria to effectively fight terrorism.
“To contain the spate of insurgency in Nigeria, the Federal government has adopted a multi-sectoral approach, involving relevant government agencies to address the socio-economic and political dimensions while the Armed Forces of Nigeria assist the civil authority to provide security and maintain law and order”, he mentioned.
He added that as part of efforts to address emerging cases of insurgency in the country, the Nigerian Military adopted a non-kinetic counter terrorism/counter insurgency approach code-named “Operation safe corridor”, to de-radicalize, re-habilitate, and re-integrate willingly surrendered Boko-Haram members into the larger society. This programme is currently embarking on a number of projects including: skill acquisition centers and integrated farms; comprising poultry, fish pond and greenhouse farming, among others. A number of international partners, including the International Organization for Migration have contributed to the success of Operation Safe Corridor.
3. Nigeria’s Insecurity: Abductions of Chibok and Dapchi Girls; and violence between herdsmen and farmers
Buhari also assured that the Nigerian Government is doing all it can to secure the release of the remaining abducted school girls from Dapchi and Chibok, demanding US collaboration in intelligence gathering, hostage negotiations and information-sharing.
According to Buhari, the government is also taking necessary steps to promote the peaceful co-existence of herdsmen and farmers, by focusing on boosting security and enforcing legislation that will guarantee herders and farmers access to land;
4. Diversity of Economy
The Nigerian President revealed his intention to further diversify Nigeria’s economy and shift focus or sole dependence on oil.
Agriculture and food security, power and infrastructure are major areas the government is challenging its efforts, according to him.
“Our aim is to diversify our own economy by focusing on agriculture and food security; power and infrastructure. We have cut the importation of rice by about 90% thereby saving a significant amount of money. We very much welcomed increased US investment in the Nigerian economy, especially in the non-oil sector”, says Buhari to Trump
On trade and investment between US and Nigeria:
The meeting revealed that the economic relations between Nigeria and the United States are anchored on three major instruments, namely: the Bi-National Commission (BNC), Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) and the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
The Bi-National Commission in particular, comprising bilateral political, economic, developmental and humanitarian partnership, is a basic economic framework for engagement between our two countries.
Nigeria’s trade volume with the United States stood at $6.07 billion according to 2016 statistics and comprised $4.176 billion worth of Nigerian exports to the US and $1.894 billion US exports to Nigeria. We urged greater effort to increase these figures substantially.
5. GOVERNANCE AND ANTI-CORRUPTION
Buhari appreciated the US government very much for the cooperation in their effort to recover stolen funds.
One primary goal that has defined the Buhari’s administration remains the fight against corruption especially on the immediate past government.
Buhari recounted that the two governments have put the machinery in place for their respective Attorneys-General to collaborate in ensuring the return to Nigeria of over five hundred million United States Dollars ($500) of looted funds siphoned away in banks around the world. In this connection, we congratulated the US government on launching a Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative which was spearheaded by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering. We hoped that we could continue to count on US support in this area.
