Obama’s team in Nigeria to back Buhari’s plans

The United States President, Barack Obama, has sent a 42-member high-power delegation to Nigeria in support of the three priority areas of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Leader of the delegation, Ms Samantha Power, said on Thursday in Abuja that the three areas – security, economy and governance remain the focus of the delegation’s visit to Nigeria.

Power at a joint press conference with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said Nigeria remains a strategic partner to the U.S. not only in Africa but globally.

“As you (Onyeama) indicated, Obama has sent me and members of his cabinet to lead an inter-agency delegation to Nigeria,” she said.

Power, who is U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN, said the delegation would reflect on the three pillars of the present administration which are security, economy and governance.

She explained that the partnership is so much bigger and would bear fruits to include other aspects of our partnership.

“It will include dealing with Boko Haram, trade, economic development, the strengthening of institutions and the fight that you the country is waging against corruption.

“All of these are intrinsically central for the people of Nigeria who want to live in a secured environment and dignity and have maximum opportunity.”

According to her, all the other aspects that the visit will cover include focus on critical areas for dealing with the emergency situation, caused by the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast.

She also said the Nigeria-U.S Bi-National Commission meeting, which held in Washington in March, had started yielding fruitful results.

“It’s been a very fruitful dialogue and I think there is a lot of homework that has come out of it.

“And there are a number of issues which I look forward to discussing with you; that’s how we move forward in stronger ways,” she said.