United States, U.S has offered to assist Nigeria track down billions of dollars in stolen assets as well as increase its military assistance to fight and eliminate Boko Haram in Nigeria. President Muhammadu Buhari is billed to meet with his US counterpart, Barak Obama today to discuss issues of common interest and U.S. 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. The is an opportunity to deepen our engagement”. Buhari’s visit to Washington is viewed by the U.S. administration as a chance to set the seal on improving ties since he (Buhari) won the March 28 presidential election and subsequently sworn-in on May 29.
U.S. cooperation with Buhari’s predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, had virtually grounded to a halt over issues including his refusal to investigate corruption and human rights abuses by the Nigerian military.
Speaking on U.S military assistance, Blinken said, “We’ve made it clear there are additional things that can be done, especially now that there is a new military leadership in place.” U.S. 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 $5million in new support for a multi-national taskforce setup to fight the group. This is in addition to at least $34million it is providing to Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger for equipment and logistics.