A former assistant secretary of state, Johnnie Carson, has described Nigeria as the most important country in Africa stressing that the much anticipated President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to the United States should not be limited to address insecurity alone.
He said security issues should not overshadow the need for closer trade and investment ties.
“Nigeria is the most important country in Africa,” Carson who is currently an adviser to the United States Institute of Peace said.
Now more than ever, “the relationship with Nigeria should not rest essentially on a security and military-to-military relationship,” he added in an interview with Reuters.
Similarly, US Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken told Reuters that: “President Barack Obama has long seen Nigeria as arguably the most important strategic country in sub-Saharan Africa.”
But noted that over the years the ties between US and Nigeria strained because Nigerian government refused to investigate corruption allegations in the country. “The question is would there be an opportunity to deepen our engagement and that opportunity is now,” he said of Buhari’s three-day visit to Washington.
In the same manner, the US has offered to help Nigeria’s new leader track down billions of dollars in stolen assets and increase U.S. military assistance to fight Islamic militants, US officials said, as Washington seeks to “reset” ties with Africa’s biggest economy. Buhari is billed to visit US next week.
“The question is would there be an opportunity to deepen our engagement and that opportunity is now.”
The improving ties with Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, come as US relations have cooled with two other traditional Africa powers – Egypt and South Africa.
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. This is in addition to at least $34 million it is providing to Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger for equipment and logistics.
