The Nation Newspaper

Tag: U.S

  • Bruno Iwuoha recuperating in U.S. hospital

    Bruno Iwuoha recuperating in U.S. hospital

    Popular Nigerian actor, Bruno Iwuoha, who was admitted in a U.S. hospital for an ailment suspected to be diabetes-induced glaucoma, is getting better, according to reports.

    Few weeks ago, the grey haired actor was the guest of an Abuja-based radio station where he appealed to public spirited Nigerians to assist him with funds to enable him treat himself.  In his words, “… the thing (diabetes) has claimed my sight. As I look at you now, I’m only using one sight (sic). They call that Glaucoma. And gradually it’s affecting the other one (eye). “

    Fortunately for the actor, Morgan Entertainment boss, Emeka Morgan Nwanne Oguejiofor Jr. intervened by inviting him over to the U.S. for treatment; the all-expense-paid intervention included hospital bills, feeding, and medication.

    Reports say Mr. Iwuoha is now in a stable condition, which is a far cry from the wheelchair bound state he was when he got to the hospital. However, doctors have advised him not to work or do any form of strenuous activity for the next six to 12 months in order to recuperate fully.

  • Kerry presides over raising of flag at U.S. embassy in Cuba

    Havana – Watched over by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S. Marines raised the American flag at the embassy in Cuba for the first time in 54 years  yesterday , symbolically ushering in an era of renewed diplomatic relations between the two Cold War-era foes.

    Three retired Marines who last lowered the flag in 1961 participated in the ceremony, handing a new flag to the Marine Colour Guard, which raised it on the grounds outside the embassy building on the Havana seafront.

    Kerry, the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Cuba in 70 years, said at the event that  it was obvious that “the road of mutual isolation and estrangement that the United States and Cuba have been travelling is not the right one and that the time has come for us to move in a more promising direction.”

    The symbolic event took place eight months after Havana and Washington agreed to restore ties and nearly four weeks after the United States and Cuba formally renewed diplomatic relations and upgraded their diplomatic missions to embassies.

    While the Cubans celebrated with a flag-raising in Washington on July 20, the Americans waited until Kerry could travel to Havana.

    Kerry made declared  that despite the historic opening, Washington has not set aside criticism of Communist-run Cuba’s human rights record.

    “We remain convinced the people of Cuba would be best served by a genuine democracy, where people are free to choose their leaders,” he said.

    Kerry was billed to  meet Cuban dissidents opposed to the island’s one-party political system at the U.S. embassy residence in Havana last night.

    But dissidents were not invited to the  morning flag-raising in deference to the Cuban government, generating criticism from opponents of U.S. President Barack Obama’s opening to Cuba.

    Critics of Obama’s move, which seeks to end decades of U.S. isolation and was announced last December in a landmark agreement with Cuban President Raul Castro, complain the Cuban government has made no concessions in exchange for diplomatic ties.

    “It is shameful that on the grounds of our embassy in Havana, the Cuban regime can dictate to the United States government who may or may not attend this ceremony,” Bob Menendez, a Cuban-American senator from New Jersey, said in a statement.

    Overnight, workers attached a sign reading “Embassy of the United States of America” above the entrance of the building, accompanied by a U.S. seal.

    Three classic American cars like those that still ply the streets of Havana were parked on the street behind the podium where Kerry spoke: a 1955 and a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air and a 1959 Chevrolet Impala, from the year of the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power.

  • U.S. sanctions put Gazprom, Shell plans in jeopardy

    Shell and Gazprom signed an agreement in June to develop a strategic alliance in the gas sector, ranging from upstream–exploration and production, to sales, including possible asset swaps.

    Development of the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field on the island of Sakhalin in the Pacific, a project known as Sakhalin-3, has been seen as central to that alliance as it would allow the two companies expand their sole existing LNG venture, Sakhalin-2, located nearby.

    State-owned Gazprom was believed to be considering selling a stake in Sakhalin-3 to Shell, which confirmed only last week that it was interested in buying a share, possibly through an asset swap, according to Bloomberg. It may now have to rethink those plans.

    The U.S. government said it was restricting exports, re-exports and transfers of technology and equipment to the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field.

    Shell, with considerable assets in the United States, would face consequences if it went against the sanction, as would other potential foreign investors.

    U.S. officials have repeatedly said that sanctions on Russia’s energy sector – part of broader penalties imposed since 2014 over Moscow’s involvement in Ukraine – would target new projects, not existing supplies as that could cause a spike in global energy prices.

  • Student and teacher reunite in U.S. decades after meeting in Nigeria

    Student and teacher reunite in U.S. decades after meeting in Nigeria

    Because of his name and accent, it’s not unusual for Dr. Yele Aluko’s patients to ask where he’s from.

    But in the early 1990s, when he got the question from this new patient – a retired Charlotte principal and Johnson C. Smith University professor – Aluko asked one of his own: Where do you think?

    Spencer Durante guessed correctly that his new heart specialist was from Nigeria, in West Africa.

    This rarely happened. In fact, when Aluko first came to Charlotte in 1989, one area hospital administrator suggested he change his name from Yele – pronounced yeh-lay – to Yale, so it would be easier to say.

    As Aluko chatted with Durante and his wife, Rosalia, he learned they had lived in Nigeria from 1962 to 1966, when Spencer Durante was working on a U.S. project to build a college that would train Nigerians to be secondary school teachers.

    Rosalia Durante (pronounced rose-ale-ya due-rawnt) said she had taught primary school in Nigeria. And she remembered having a student named Yele.

    Really? Aluko thought. And he asked the name of the school.

    When she said Corona International School in Lagos, his jaw dropped. Aluko, who was born in Lagos in 1954, had gone to that school in the mid-1960s. What a coincidence.

    The Durantes had seen Aluko’s name in The Charlotte Observer and made an appointment, both to confirm he was the boy at the Corona School and because Spencer Durante needed a heart specialist. They continued seeing Aluko for more than a decade, but the conversations focused on medical issues.

     

    Class picture

    Spencer Durante died in 2003, at 86. Rosalia Durante remained one of Aluko’s patients, coming to his office once a year for an evaluation. At one of her visits, she brought Aluko a surprise. She had been digging through papers after her husband’s death.

    She’d found an 8-by-10 copy of a black-and-white picture of her first class at Corona, for the school year 1963-64. That’s her, at 47, standing in the middle of 23 children – girls and boys, black and white, Nigerian, Asian and British, mostly dressed in white.

    She asked Aluko if he saw anyone familiar.

    Indeed, Aluko saw his sixth-grade self, legs crossed, sitting on the grass in the front row. He’s smiling at the camera, resting his elbow on his knee and his cheek on his fist.

    “Oh my God, that is me,” Aluko thought. “How could this be?”

    By what twist of fate did this Nigerian boy in Mrs. Durante’s class end up, half a world away and more than three decades later, becoming the heart specialist who cares for his former teacher and her husband in Charlotte, North Carolina?

     

    Settling in Charlotte

    The picture had been taken outside Corona, a private British-owned school that attracted children who could qualify academically and afford the tuition. Some were children of foreign diplomats. Aluko’s father was a civil engineer; his mother had been an English teacher.

    Aluko remembered having American, Nigerian and British teachers at Corona. He got a good education, good enough to get him into Kings College boarding school and then medical school at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. He came to the United States for medical residency at Columbia University in New York, where he met his future wife, Shirley Houston, also a doctor.

    In 1989, they chose to settle in Charlotte. Aluko said he started a solo cardiology practice after he couldn’t find an existing group that would hire someone with his foreign education. His practice grew into the city’s second-largest group of heart specialists, Mid Carolina Cardiology, now Novant Health Heart and Vascular Institute. He often was quoted in the Observer, about new heart procedures, efforts to reduce health disparities or the community of Nigerian doctors in the Charlotte area.

    As she got to know Aluko, Rosalia Durante continued searching through her scrapbooks. They bulged with keepsakes from Africa – maps of Nigeria, newspaper and magazine articles, pictures of her students and copies of their handwritten notes.

    “I keep stuff,” said Durante, whose home is decorated with African art, including a carved ivory elephant tusk and a painting by a Nigerian artist.

    She remembers her first day at Corona School: “When I first saw all the boys in that class, I thought, ‘Oh, I’m gonna have a terrible time.’” She had three “rambunctious” sons of her own. But these boys, from several countries, sat at attention at their desks, called her “Madame,” and raised their hands and stood before speaking.

    “They didn’t have many books, but their books were well-used,” Rosalia Durante recalled. “…I enjoyed hearing how the languages criss-crossed. … And they had to listen to a Southern dialect from North Carolina.”

     

    ‘My name is Yele’

    Nigerian names were distinctive and stuck in her mind, Rosalia Durante said. It helped that she had asked her students to print their names in large letters on construction paper. For the first week, they held up their posters and announced themselves so she could learn to spell and pronounce their names correctly.

    “My name is Yele Aluko,” she recalled him saying. He had bright, eager eyes and a “zest for knowledge. … He was inquisitive. You didn’t have to pull things out of him,” she said.

    In 2011, Rosalia Durante read in the newspaper that Aluko was getting a lifetime achievement award from the Charlotte Post Foundation. She mentioned it to her granddaughter, who arranged for them to attend. During the ceremony, Aluko was surprised when organizers announced that his primary school teacher was in the audience.

    By then in her 90s, Rosalia Durante stood at her table and waved. Aluko walked over and gave her a hug. She couldn’t hear well, but she had a keen memory of that year when he was beginning to find his path in the world. He vowed they would become more than just doctor and patient. They would be friends.

     

    ‘With all my love’

    He called her occasionally, and this year, he arranged a visit to her home off Beatties Ford Road. Aluko arrived with a bouquet of flowers. Rosalia Durante pulled a note on white paper from her scrapbook.

    It read: “To the teacher I will not forget. And to the teacher who has helped me with my lessons.”

    Aluko recognised the tiny but clear and legible script – and thought how much better it was than his handwriting today.

    He did not remember writing this note at the end of sixth grade to thank his American teacher. But she had saved it all these years. It had meant that much to her.

    It was signed: “With all my love. From Yele.”

     

    • Culled from Charlotte Observer
  • Seyi Shay for U.S. tour

    Seyi Shay for U.S. tour

    Seyi Shay has been picked alongside Ayo Jay and a host of other top Nigerian artistes to headline The Ayo Jay and Friends USA Tour billed to hold in six cities- Washington DC, Atlanta, Houston, New York, L.A and Chicago, from August 1 to August 21 2015.

    The tour, organised by One Nation Records, will also have Classic Man Jidenna on stage. Other artistes billed to perform are Skales, Falz, and Boj.

    States to be visited by the tour are New York (August 1), Washington DC (August 7), Atlanta (August 8), Houston (August 14), LA (August 15) and Chicago (August 21).

    Seyi Shay, who has been making headlines in recent times will also be on stage with the likes of Davido, Lil Kesh, Praiz, Boy Breed, at a youth event, tagged Nigerian Teen Choice Award holding at the TranscorpHilton Hotel, Abuja, August 9.

    The Nigerian Teen Choice Award 2015, according to report, is created to recognise honour and celebrate outstanding young personalities who have created positive impact in Nigeria.

    Celebrities like Alex Ekubo, GEE-4, Denrele Edun, Funke Akindele and others are among the guests expected to grace the event.

  • U.S. plans investor roadshow for Africa to boost investment

    The United States (US) will launch an African investor roadshow later this year to connect entrepreneurs with potential U.S. investors. This is part of a push for increased trade with the continent, the U.S. commerce secretary said on last Friday.

    Speaking on the sidelines of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, which President Barack Obama  addressed on Saturday, Penny Pritzker said the U S was seeking to address the main concern raised by African entrepreneurs’ limited access to foreign capital.

    “The president and our department are very focused on how to improve trade and investment between Africa and the United States. It’s really top of our mind. And what we’ve found is that there is an enormous amount of entrepreneurial activity happening here,” Pritzker told Reuters.

    “It’s a really important effort because everybody talks about access to capital here… We listened to the customer.”

    The roadshow will be launched in New York in September during the annual meeting of world leaders at the United Nations. In 2016, potential investors will travel to African countries, she said, adding that the specifics have yet been set.

    Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta among others have been invited to participate, Pritzker said.

    A wide array of African companies have started up in recent years to meet the demands of the continent’s fast-growing economy and to add value to the raw goods it has traditionally shipped abroad.

    But access to capital is a common complaint, in part because commercial banks require very high interest rates.

    The Nairobi summit and the African Leaders Summit held in Washington last August, were important showcases for the continent’s significant business potential, and were helping to counter negative perceptions of African business, Pritzker said.

  • U.S. condemns ‘horrific’ Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon

    U.S. condemns ‘horrific’ Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon

    Washington – The United States yesterday  condemned Boko Haram suicide attacks in Cameroon and Nigeria as “horrific and indiscriminate” and deplored the militant group’s use of children as bombers.

    Multiple bomb blasts at two bus stations in Gombe  killed 37 people on Wednesday, while two suicide bomb attacks killed at least 13 people in northern Cameroon.

    The United States “strongly condemns the horrific and indiscriminate suicide attacks,” the State Department said.

    “Boko Haram’s unconscionable use of children as suicide bombers and indiscriminate targeting of men, women and children highlights the group’s senseless brutality,” State Department deputy spokesperson Mark Toner said in  the  statement.

    The attacks came on the heels of  President Muhammadu Buhari’s  four-day visit to Washington, where he met with U.S. President Barack Obama. The two leaders on Monday discussed security issues including the threat posed by the  extremist group .

    Following their talks, Obama said Buhari had a “clear agenda” for defeating the militants and tackling corruption.

    Boko Haram  which has killed thousands of people in a six-year insurgency has been increasingly employing young people as suicide bombers since it allied itself with Islamic State.

  • U.S., Nigeria partner to increase electricity access

    U.S., Nigeria partner to increase electricity access

    Electricity supply is a major problem in Nigeria. Successive governments have tried to solve this challenge, which many believe holds the key to solving other challenges facing the country. Yesterday, the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) unveils a solar energy plan towards increasing electricity access, writes OLUKOREDE YISHAU

    It is known as the Power Africa initiative. It is President Barack Obama’s baby. Its aim is to improve electricity access in Africa, of which the United States sees Nigeria as perhaps the most important.

    Yesterday, as President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to the United States was wrapped up, the United States Trade and Development Agency provided a grant to Quaint Global Energy Solutions for a solar power project being developed in the North.

    The significance of the deal is driven home by the fact that the North is said to enjoy about one per cent of the power supply in the country.

    Chairman, Nigerian Electricity regulatory Commission (NERC) Dr. Sam Amadi explained that the North does not have sufficient connection and the lines are weak, making the lines transferring power to the North constrained and only able to take 100 to 1000 megawatts of electricity.

    Speaking in Abuja on Energy and Household poverty, at the Annual lecture of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Amadi said the national imperative would be to provide more power to the North.

    Amadi said: “Today in Nigeria, there are many people who do not even have access to electricity talk more of the electricity bill and that number is close to 40 and above, people who have no connection whatsoever at all to electricity. So the first marker to energy poverty is access, to people who do not have access to electricity.

    “Why do we not have access enough? Of course we are a big country and we have just 6000 or 7000 megawatts available capacity not supplied. The constraints to electricity is access and connection, even if we have today 10 to 20 megawatts of electricity many parts of Nigeria will still not have light because there is no connection to those places, that is why the government created the rural electrification agency.

    “What we have been doing with the past is supplying transformers to low areas so if you put transformers to a community where the lines are weak, the lines cannot go. Today the whole of the North receives about only 1% or less than one percent of supply, why? Because the lines transferring power to the whole north cannot take, it is constrained, it can take maybe 100 to 1000 megawatts, the urgent work now is to finish the line from Calabar to Markurdi to free more power to the North.

    “To see very clearly between electricity supply and poverty, the same part of the north is the area that has the largest indicators of poverty and it is still the same area that has the least supply of electricity, so the national imperative would be to provide more power to the North as a way of reducing poverty.

    “Nigeria is poor generally but relative poverty we have more in the North, so what we are doing more as regulators is that we are looking at imbedded generation; you know that our networks are very poor; they are not good so even if we have 10,000 megawatts today on the grid, we may not be able to more than 1000 megawatts or above to the north so it is very urgent that we improve the whole network to the north, it is urgent that we use the next new regulation to provide more imbedded power.”

    Commenting on the agreement signed for the solar power project, USTDA Director Leocadia  Zak, who signed the grant agreement with Quaint’s President, Mobolaji W.Durodola, said:  “This project is a great example of how the U.S. and Nigeria are working together to increase electricity access under President Obama’s Power Africa initiative. By working together on projects like this one, we can ensure that more Nigerians have access to renewable energy.”

    Durodola described the deal as the tonic for the much-needed clean and renewable energy.

    “USTDA’s support is a step in the right direction for the development of much-needed clean and renewable energy capacity for Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa,” said Mr. Durodola.  “Quaint is happy to receive this grant and is committed to adding value, talent and energy into the Nigerian power sector.”

    Quaint, a Nigerian company specifically organised to develop renewable power projects, is working with a U.S. energy project developer, Tetra Tech ES, Inc. (Pasadena, California), on a feasibility study to determine the best technical configurations for the project. 50 megawatts of clean, affordable energy is expected to be supplied Kaduna State. It also has the potential to leverage over $160 million in public and private capital.

    The feasibility study will include the development of initial costing for the project’s engineering, procurement and construction, as well as the preparation of an operations and maintenance

    Tetra Tech will also provide training for Quaint employees to support the company’s capacity to develop and operate the project.

    USTDA Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer Enoh Titilayo Ebong, who oversees the operations of the agency and manages staff responsible for developing and executing USTDA’s program activities, summed up the importance of the deal in an article released yesterday titled Investing in Nigeria’s future.

    He said: “When I was growing up in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, my father used to say that his future was in his past. In other words, you can never know how what happens today might impact tomorrow.

    “My father, Ime James Ebong, used to regale my sisters and me with stories about rising through the ranks of the Nigerian Civil Service after the country gained independence in 1960. As the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Economic Development and Reconstruction, he worked to coordinate foreign investment that could help build infrastructure and promote growth. He believed strongly in a global Nigeria, and traveled to the United States many times to establish partnerships with American companies.

    “My father died several years ago, but I think of him often. I thought of him when I joined the civil service at the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, a U.S. foreign assistance agency that does exactly what he did – collaborate with U.S. companies to craft solutions to development challenges in Nigeria and around the world. And I thought of him yesterday, when President Obama welcomed the new President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, to the United States.

    “Economic development will be the focus of many discussions during President Buhari’s visit: Working together to increase trade and investment between our two countries. Building business-to-business partnerships that can support sustainable development. Collaborating to increase access to electricity for Nigerians, most of whom live without reliable power.”

    He continued:  “Together, we are making important progress in all of these areas. Last summer, President Obama convened industry leaders from the United States, Nigeria and across Africa at the first U.S.-Africa Business Forum. And deepening our trade and investment ties will be an important focus of his trip to the continent later this week.

    “Nigeria has demonstrated its commitment to increasing these ties by taking a number of steps to collaborate with the private sector. When I first came to USTDA, the Nigerian government had recently begun to open up its telecommunications sector. We have been connecting Nigerian telecom companies with U.S. experts who can help them modernize their infrastructure. For example, we are currently helping Nigeria’s Main One Cable Company plan for the extension of a 300-mile undersea fiber optic network from Lagos to Port Harcourt. Through their work with a U.S. company, HIP Consult, Inc. (Washington, DC), Main One will increase the number of people and businesses with access to telecom services throughout the region.

    “Because this model has proven so successful, we are adopting it to help our Nigerian partners privatize their electricity sector. In fact, we’re working across the value chain to bring energy to more Nigerians. As just one example, today we provided agrantto Quaint Global Energy Solutions for a solar power project they’re developing in Kaduna State. Quaint is a small Nigerian company specifically organized to develop renewable power projects. They will work with a U.S. energy project developer, Tetra Tech ES, Inc. (Pasadena, California), to determine the best technical configurations for the project.

    “This effort will bring 50 megawatts of much-needed clean, affordable energy to northern Nigeria. It also has the potential to leverage over $160 million in public and private capital. It’s a great example of how the U.S. and Africa are working together to increase electricity access under President Obama’s Power Africa initiative.

    “By collaborating on projects like this one, we are helping to ensure that more Nigerians have access to renewable energy. And we are helping to strengthen economic ties between Nigeria and the U.S.

    “As both a daughter of Nigeria and a proud American citizen, I am starting to see how my father’s past shaped my future. His commitment to public service – and to Nigeria’s growth – inspired me to join the U.S. government’s efforts to promote development by leveraging the expertise and resources of the U.S. private sector. I know he would agree that, by strengthening trade and development ties today, we are helping to ensure a safer, more prosperous tomorrow. “

    Perhaps with more of this sort of project, the country will join the league of major players in the clean and renewable energy circle.

  • Buhari seeks access to U.S. weapons to fight terrorists

    Buhari seeks access to U.S. weapons to fight terrorists

    •President promises to sustain public goodwill

    President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to the United States Government and its Congress to review Nigeria’s status regarding the application of the ‘Leahy Law’ to enable the country access appropriate strategic weapons to fight insurgency.

    The President spoke in a paper he delivered at the U.S. Institute for Peace (USIP) in Washington yesterday.

    He said the blanket application of the Leahy Law by the U.S. on the grounds of unproven allegations of human rights violations levelled against the nation’s forces had denied Nigeria the necessary weapons to prosecute the war.

    The Leahy Law or Leahy amendment is a U.S. human rights law that prohibits the U.S. Department of State and Department of Defense from providing military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity. It is named after its principal sponsor, Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont.

    Buhari said: “In our efforts at combating the activities of Boko Haram, the new government has sought and obtained the support of not only our neighbours, but other international friends and partners.

    “Regrettably, the blanket application of the Leahy Law by the United States on the grounds of unproven allegations of human rights violations levelled against our forces has denied us access to appropriate strategic weapons to prosecute the war against the insurgents.

    “In the face of abduction of innocent school girls from their hostels, indiscriminate bombings of civilians in markets and places of worship, our forces have remained largely impotent.

    “This is because they do not possess the appropriate weapons and technology which they could have had, had the so-called human rights violations not been an obstacle.

    “Unwittingly, and I dare say, unintentionally, the application of the Leahy law amendment by the U. S. Government has aided and abated the Boko Haram terrorist group in the prosecution of its extremist ideology and hate, the indiscriminate killings and maiming of civilians, in raping of women and girls, and in their other heinous crimes.”

    According to him, this is not the spirit of the Leahy Law, and the American people cannot support any group engaged in these crimes.

    The President, therefore, appealed to both the Executive arm and the U.S. Congress to examine how the U.S. Government could provide Nigeria with far more substantial counter-terrorism assistance with minimal strings.

    “The longer we delay, the deadlier the Boko Haram gets. At all events, we have re-written the rules of engagement protecting the rights of combatants and in particular safeguarding civilians in theatres of conflict.

    “As we ramp up our efforts to defeat Boko Haram, we know that winning this battle sustainably will require that we expand economic opportunities and create jobs for our teeming young population,” he added.

    Buhari promised that he would work hard to sustain the goodwill his government has received at home and abroad.

    He said despite the perceived slowness and the reality of lack of resources he would work very hard “so that people will see and believe that we are trying and can deliver and hopefully become less critical.”

    Acknowledging the huge challenges confronting his administration such as the crash in the price of crude oil, oil theft, pipeline vandalisation in the Niger Delta, hostage-taking and insecurity in the Northeast, the president restated his determination to sustain the goodwill by working hard.

    Buhari assured that his administration would improve the quality of governance; ensure that governments at all levels were responsive, inclusive, transparent and accountable, and that public institutions delivered services in a timely and efficient manner.

    “We must win and sustain the trust of the people we govern,” he added

    According to the President, the fight against corruption is a full-time job that his administration would carry with sustained resolve, saying he always maintained zero tolerance for corruption.

    “I am even more committed to fighting this number one enemy decisively because I am convinced beyond any shadow of a doubt that the much needed impetus for our country’s survival is held back by corruption.

    “I will not allow this to continue. Again, as with every action of the government that I lead, we would be fair, just, and scrupulously follow due process, and the rule of law, as enshrined in our Constitution.

    “I will lead by example to ensure the prudent management of Nigeria’s resources. The government will plug the leakages that fuel corruption in Nigeria,” he said.

    He noted that the future of Nigeria, indeed the future of Africa, “lies in democratic governance, not only because it is the expression of the will of the people, but because democracy can help us build fair, just and inclusive societies.

    “Only in a democracy can Africa’s numerous ethnic, cultural and religious diversities find harmonious expression, and the freedoms and opportunities that come with it.”

    Buhari called on the U.S. Government to help Nigeria’s democratisation process to gain roots by investing in the expansion of education, health and economic opportunities for the millions of youths.

  • Buhari’s visit to the U.S.… The gains that should come

    Buhari’s visit to the U.S.… The gains that should come

    A lawyer and lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lagos, WAHAB SHITTU, writes that Nigeria and the United States stand to gain a lot from President Buhari’s visit

    The recent President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to the United States (U.S.) is significant in many respects, not only for Nigeria and the United States in particular but the international community in general.

    On the part of Nigeria, beyond focus on security, war against terrorism as well as trade and economic relations, it is expected that the far reaching outcome of the visit will result in the strengthening of the United States’ long lasting friendship with Nigeria.

    The first point to note is that the visit was apparently in honour of President Obama’s invitation on the strength of our president’s local and international goodwill. Thus international goodwill is as a result of the president’s acclaimed integrity, discipline and incorruptibility. This goodwill largely accounted for the way Buhari and his entourage were accommodated in Blair’s House, which serves as a site for “American Diplomacy” during the visit. This shows the esteem with which President Buhari is held on account of this goodwill considering the fact that previous visiting Nigerian leaders never had such luxury treatment.

    One important lesson arising from this privilege is that our president must never allow this uncommon international goodwill to be squandered. The challenge is how to deploy this international goodwill in building a more strategic relationship with the United States to meet our developmental aspirations. One way of retaining this important goodwill is to keep to promises and commitments made by the Nigerian delegation during the visit. Our commitments on security, war against terrorism, war against corruption as well as trade and economic relations must be respected. Two of these areas particularly war on terrorism and corruption cannot be treated with kid gloves. It is important to note that the international community treats issues relating to terrorism and corruption with priorities as they are conceived as crimes against humanity outside the domain and sovereignty of states. In other words, no state can use the excuse of state sovereignty to evade its international obligations to curtail terrorism and forestall corrupt practices.

    On terrorism, it is important in deploying counter terrorism measures to be guided by respect for international rules of engagement, international law, international humanitarian law, international refugee law and international human rights law. With respect to fight against corruption, it is important to lead by example, curtail impunity, indiscipline, breaches of rule of law and constitutionalism and also deploy resources and mechanisms in building enduring systems, institutions, societal traditions, ethical and moral values and strengthening personal behaviours. These require proactive, preventive and reactive measures. We must also keep our future elections credible, free, fair and peaceful if we are to continue to retain this international goodwill.

    The challenge therefore is deploying this current international goodwill enjoyed by the current leadership in building more strategic relationships not only with the United States but with the rest of the international community to meet our developmental aspirations. Indeed future achievements and successes of this administration may well depend on the extent it is able to retain and consolidate on the strength of this goodwill.

    President Buhari’s visit to the United States is also significant coming as it were before the administration settles down to serious governance. This is because being a new administration, the need for external support to prosecute its policies is fundamental as Nigeria takes on both economic and security crisis currently ravaging the land. Indeed international partners have a rare opportunity to engage Nigeria on a new beginning given the fact that Ministers are yet to be appointed and key policies are still being worked out. There are also diplomatic consequences of the visit. It has the prospect of strengthening diplomatic relations of both countries. President Obama has never visited Nigeria in his almost eight-year-tenure. This is not too good for the image of Nigeria as the greatest black African Nation. President MohammaduBuhari’s visit may have provided a convenient platform for President Obama to reciprocate the gesture by undertaking a visit to Nigeria in no distant future.

    It is also important to review and retool Nigerian’s diplomatic objectives to emphasize service to the Nigerian state by diplomatic officials as opposed to service of the whips and caprices of the Nigerian ruling elite. A strong strategy to encourage skilled Nigerians deploying their expertise in the United States to return to Nigeria to develop our economy should be vigorously pursued.

    Nigeria must be clear on what its needs and priorities are arising from the visit of our President to the United States. Undoubtedly, Nigeria requires military support to combat terrorism but more importantly, training, equipment and intelligence exchange are what Nigeria actually needs more critically at this period in time. Nigeria also requires assistance in retrieving stolen wealth starched in some American Commercial banks or covert agencies. There are strong indications and suggestions that some of these lootshave been deployed in the purchase of expensive and expansive estate in Washington D.C. and its environs particularly the State of Maryland. Sonala Olumhense, a respected columnist of The Guardian on Sunday alluded to this discovery in his article last Sunday in the Guardian. This is a vital lead that the Nigerian authorities may wish to follow up.

    There may be need to put in place some form of international agreement or memorandum of understanding with the United States on how some of these loot can be traced and recovered for the benefit of the Nigerian State. Currently, Nigeria’s economy bleeds and much of these looted funds if recovered will assist Nigeria’s economic recovery.

    Nigeria currently grapples with challenges on security, economics, institutions and development leading to lower levels of living and productivity, lower levels of human capital, higher levels of inequality and absolute poverty, higher population growth rates, greater social fractionalisation, larger rural populations but rapid rural to urban migration, lower levels of industrialisation and manufactured exports, underdeveloped financial and other markets and high levels of corruption and impunity amongst others. These are inspite of our physical and human resource endowments. The expectation is that the president’s latest visit to the United States will mark a good beginning for the realisation of Nigerian’s vast potential. As noted by President Obama, President Buhari came into the office with a reputation of integrity and a clear agenda on corruption and Boko Haram insurgency includ