The United States government has promised to help Nigeria track down billions of dollars in stolen assets just as President Muhammadu Buhari arrived Washington D.C.
Following the arrival of President Muhammadu Buhari at Washington D.C. last night, the United States government has promised to track down billions of dollars in stolen assets.
The country is also set to increase US military assistance to fight Boko Haram, US officials said, as Washington seeks to “reset” ties with Nigeria.
Buhari’s arrival in the US was announced by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, who tweeted: “Pres. @MBuhari has just arrived the Joint Base Andrews International Airport, Washington D.C. for tomorrow’s meeting with Pres. Obama #PMBmeetsOBAMA”
This week’s visit to Washington by Buhari is viewed by the US administration as a chance to set the seal on improving ties since he won a March election hailed as Nigeria’s first democratic power transition in decades, reported Reuters.
“President (Obama) has long seen Nigeria as arguably the most important strategic country in sub-Saharan Africa,” US Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken told Reuters. “The question is would there be an opportunity to deepen our engagement and that opportunity is now.”
“Here too he is looking to deepen collaboration and one of the things he is focused on is asset recovery,” the official said. “He is hopeful we can help them recover some of that.”
US officials have said they are willing to send military trainers to help Nigeria counter a six-year-old northern insurgency by the Boko Haram Islamist movement.
Since Buhari's election, Washington has committed $5 million in new support for a multi-national task force set up to fight the group by Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroun. This is in addition to at least $34 million it is providing to the countries for equipment and logistics.