TRADE-PARTNERSHIP:
‘I Will be Visiting NIGERIA, a Beautiful & Amazing Country’-President TRUMP of United States
…Says ‘There is No Country More Beautiful in the world than Nigeria’
* ‘Our aim is to diversify our 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’-President BUHARI
* ‘Trump’s Proposed visit to Nigeria may take 12 months to Plan’-Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama
*AMERICA concludes plans to return over $500m (about 190 billion Naira) looted funds to Nigeria
BY GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU/FOREIGN BUREAU CHIEF, UNITED STATES
ON NIGERIA’S PRESIDENT, MUHAMMADU BUHARI’S historic visit to President Donald Trump of United States yesterday at the White House, salient matters relating to security, trade, economic partnership were discussed exhaustively as a further evidence of the lasting relationship that exist between the two countries. President Trump did not hide his feelings by saying that he plans to visit Africa’s most populous nation on earth, having heard the nation is so amazing and beautiful.
During a joint press briefing between these two leaders at the Rose Gardens, White House, President Trump states: “I would very much like to visit Nigeria. It is an amazing country and in certain ways, I hear from the standpoint of the beauty of a country. There is no country more beautiful.”
Earlier, Buhari had appreciated the importance of Trump’s administration to a strong relationship with Nigeria, explaining that the United States remains for Nigeria a valued friend and strategic partner, whose support and solidarity over the years has meant a great deal to Nigerians.
In Buhari’s words, he said: “Our government’s three main priority areas are:
Security, Anti-corruption and good governance, Economic growth and job creation
“We congratulate you, Mr. President on the states-manly role you have played in so dramatically transforming the course of events in the Korean Peninsula to make the denuclearization of the region a real possibility.
“On security, please accept our sincere congratulations on the important role played by the US in the defeat of ISIS, although some of the remnants have found their way to the Sahel region. We are very grateful for the strong US support in our fight against terrorism. We also appreciate very much your 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 authorities to provide security and maintain law and order.
“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, rehabilitate, 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, fishpond 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. We will also appreciate whatever support we could also get from the US.
“We are extremely grateful for your government’s support in the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in the North East of Nigeria, as well as humanitarian assistance to the Internally Displaced Persons, through agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development and other international partners.
“The USA has been to date the biggest contributor to the humanitarian response and last year gave approximately 500 million US Dollars in cash and in-kind contributions through the United Nations and other inter-governmental organizations. These have mainly supported protection activities, namely health, food assistance and shelter.”
On Chibok girls, Buhari told Trump, “We are doing all we can to secure the release of the remaining abducted schoolgirls from Dapchi and Chibok. In this context, we will continue to welcome US collaboration in intelligence gathering, hostage negotiations and information-sharing.
“The government is 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, reducing strife and promoting harmonizing economic activities.
” I wish to extend sincere congratulations to you and your government on the impressive performance of the US economy under your watch. Our aim is to diversify our 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 welcome increased US investment in the Nigerian economy, especially in the non-oil sector.”
On Economic relationship between Nigeria and United States, the Nigerian President said “Economic relations between Nigeria and the United States are anchored on three major instruments, namely: the Bi-National Commission, Trade and Investment Framework Agreement and the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. 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 six point zero-seven billion United States Dollars according to 2016 statistics and comprised four point one-seven-six billion united States dollars worth of Nigerian exports to the US and one point eight-nine-four billion United States Dollars US exports to Nigeria. We should work to increase these figures substantially and to make balance of trade more even.
“We thank your government very much for the cooperation we have received in our effort to recover stolen funds. Our 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 congratulate the US government on launching a Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, which was spearheaded by the US Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering. We hope that we can continue to count on your support in our efforts to recover our money.
“The Government of Nigeria remains deeply committed to the principles of human rights as well as the promotion and protection of people’s freedom, even in the process of fighting terror. We will ensure that all documented cases of human rights abuses are investigated and those responsible for violations held accountable for their actions.
“In addition, the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria inaugurated the Nigerian Military Human Rights Dialogue in August 2015 to provide the Nigerian Military and Para-Military with necessary tools to integrate human rights practices into their code, education systems, field training and disciplinary systems.
“To this end, the victims of a criminal law enforcement operation that occurred in 2013 (otherwise known as Apo-six) were compensated in April this year based on the findings of the National Human Rights Commission. Two of the police officers responsible were convicted for culpable homicide arising from the extra-judicial killings.
“Mr. President, this is the first time in the history of Nigeria that the Federal Government compensated the victims of extra-judicial killings. It also provides a sustainable platform for local and international human rights organizations to constructively engage the Nigerian security forces on human rights concerns. We also look to share best practices in this area with the United States.”
Meanwhile, after the joint press briefing in White House, Onyeama reportedly explained in Washington, DC that Trump has a very busy schedule while Nigeria’s general election was also coming up. Trump had told Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari that he would like to visit Nigeria, a country he described as “amazing’’.
Onyeama said: “Regarding the invitation, well if the programmers of the two presidents are very very intensive, it usually takes anything up to a year to prepare for invitation at that kind of level before they actually take place. Of course in Nigeria you know we have elections coming up and a very very busy schedule as that of President Trump. May be sometime next year we could envisage something like that.”
Onyeama explained that Buhari’s outing at the U.S. was a win-win for Nigeria and the U.S. saying each president has 10 members of his delegation during the bilateral meeting between Buhari and Trump.
He added that Buhari met with six Chief Executive Officers of U.S. agriculture companies and with a group of 10 U.S. business leaders from different sectors, including petroleum.
He said: “Areas covered were Security, trade, governance issues. On trade, the objective was to increase the level of trade between Nigeria and the United States. The two presidents agreed that concerted efforts will be made. The issues of market access in the context were discussed. On security, the U.S. has been helping Nigeria, supplying military equipment in the fight against terrorism and there is agreement to continue the cooperation between the two countries in this context.
“In the area of governance, the return to Nigeria in the area of large sums of money that has been siphoned out of Nigeria and lodged in banks in various jurisdictions around the world and the cooperative with the United States helping to repatriate these funds to Nigeria were also discussed.
Interestingly, the timely visit of Buhari to Trump has yielded the finalisation of negotiations to repatriate more than 500 million dollars (about 190 billion Naira) of Nigeria’s looted money traced to the U.S.
According to Nigeria’s Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami as reportedly revealed in Washington, DC, that he and the Attorney-General of the U.S. would be meeting on Tuesday to finalise the agreement.
Malami assured that the technicalities involved were being taken care of by both officials of the Nigerian Governments and also from the U.S. side. His words: “On the part of assets recovery, we have made considerable progress through this visit. There’s goodwill by the two presidents to have a road map for the repatriation of illicit funds and assets traced to the U.S. as proceeds of illicit transactions. This illicit funds and assets are to the tune of 500 million dollars and above for immediate repatriation. We are looking at the shortest practicable time for it to be repatriated. There is political commitment demonstrated by the two presidents. The over 500 million dollars is not all the recovery, it is only for the immediate repatriation while we continue with our efforts to recover more.”
Malami defended Nigeria’s human rights record, saying the Buhari’s administration is the first in the history of Nigeria to pay compensation for human rights violations. He noted that Trump approved of what Buhari’s administration is doing.
Malami said: “Trump said Buhari is a great leader; he said he has a great respect for him, and he said Buhari has cut down on corruption.”
#Additional reports by Vanguard newspaper, NAN and News Express
