U. S. President, Barack Obama, on Tuesday held talks with Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, where he lauded the effort of the leader of Africa’s most populous nation in the fight against corruption and terrorism.
Both presidents met on the sideline of the 71st United Nations General Assembly holding in New York City.
Obama describes Nigeria as a very important country in the comity of nations which is why his administration decided to assist the administration in the fight.
President Obama also pledged to assist in the area of economy, agriculture, promising to inject more fund to assist Nigeria come out of recession.
He wished President Buhari well, pledging to set up a framework for more support from America even while he leaves office.
Responding, President Buhari thanked the American President for the assistance so far in the fight against terrorism, especially in the training of the military.
According to the President, the success recorded so far in the fight is mainly because of the contributions of the United States and other countries.
The meeting came a day after President Buhari attended a high-level summit on Monday held in New York to address large movements of refugees and migrants, with the aim of bringing countries together behind a more humane and coordinated approach.
President Buhari and Obama have held talks in the past centred on terrorism in Nigeria’s northeast, with the American leader pledging his nation’s support.
U.S. has also provided support for Nigeria in the rebuilding of the nation’s northeast devastated by over six years insurgency of the Boko Haram.
In August, the United States government announced over $37 million for humanitarian assistance for the conflict in the Lake Chad Basin region.
While addressing the UN General Assembly on Monday, President Buhari described as disheartening the number of people that have been displaced from their ancestral homes due to the activities of Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria’s northeast.
He addressed a plenary on “Addressing Movements of Refugees and Migrants” at the UN Headquarters in New York.
He said over 600,000 have turned refugees in neighbouring countries, with two million displaced within the northeast.
President Buhari, however, expressed concern that the refugee problem is coming at a time the world economy is shrinking.
Efforts to meet immediate needs
The President pledged Nigeria’s commitment to working with the international community in addressing the issues of movements of refugees and migrants.
He also promised that his administration would make efforts to meet the immediate needs of the Internally Displaced People.
“Any discuss of refugees and migrants in the case of Nigeria will be incomplete without reference to our Internally Displaced Persons, victims of Boko Haram’s terrible atrocities.
“The Boko Haram insurgency has caused a huge refugee problem of an estimated 600,000 persons for Nigeria’s neighbouring nations.
“We are making concerted efforts to meet our citizens’ immediate humanitarian needs by reducing their risk and vulnerability and increasing their resilience through vocational training and skills acquisition programmes, particularly for IDPs in camps, ” he told world leaders.
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