President Buhari was captioned leaving Abuja this morning with
his delegation for the US.
Also the United States will offer to
help President Buhari track down billions of
dollars in stolen assets and increase U.S.
military assistance to fight Islamic militants,
U.S. officials said, as Washington seeks to
"reset" ties with the country.
The visit to Washington by Buhari is
viewed by the U.S. 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.
U.S. cooperation with Buhari's predecessor,
Goodluck Jonathan, had virtually ground to a
halt over issues including his refusal to
investigate corruption and human rights
abuses by the Nigerian military.
"President (Barack Obama) has long seen
Nigeria as arguably the most important
strategic country in sub-Saharan Africa," U.S.
Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken told
Reporters. "The question is would there be an
opportunity to deepen our engagement and
that opportunity is now."
The improving ties with Nigeria come as U.S.
relations have cooled with two other
traditional Africa powers - Egypt and South
Africa.
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 $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.
Buhari's move on July 13 to fire military
chiefs appointed by Jonathan clears the way
for more military cooperation, U.S. officials
say.
"We've made clear there are additional things
that can be done especially now that there is
a new military leadership in place," a senior
U.S. official said.
Another senior U.S. official said Washington
was urging Buhari, a Muslim from the
country's north, to step up regional
cooperation against the militants and to
provide more aid to afflicted communities to
reduce the group's recruiting power.
Buhari has said his priorities are
strengthening Nigeria's economy, hard-hit by
the fall in oil prices, boosting investment, and
tackling "the biggest monster of all" -
corruption.
"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."
In 2014, the United States took control of
more than $480 million siphoned away by
Sani Abacha and his associates into banks
around the world.
Washington has broad powers to track
suspicious funds and enforce sanctions
against individuals.
Jonathan fired the former central bank
governor in February last year after he raised
questions about the disappearance of about
$20 billion in oil revenues.
Johnnie Carson, a former assistant secretary
of state, said Washington should not let
security issues overshadow the need for
closer trade and investment ties.
"Nigeria is the most important country in
Africa," said Carson, currently an adviser to
the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Now more than ever, "the relationship with
Nigeria should not rest essentially on a
security and military-to-military
relationship," he added.
Lauren Ploch Blanchard, an Africa specialist
with the non-partisan Congressional
Research Services, said the U.S. challenge
was to work with Buhari while giving him time
to address the country's vast problems.
How Buhari will handle the campaign against
Boko Haram is still an unknown, Blanchard
said.
