The two are non-state
officials who are attending some of the highly sensitive meetings with the
Nigerian leader.
The Daily Times of
Nigeria exclusively obtained the itinerary of the President and his entourage.
Ahead of the visit,
the US government announced readiness to help Nigeria recover looted funds.
The President’s plane
touched down at the Joint Base Andrews International Airport in Washington DC
at 4.00 am local time in the US.
He is billed to begin
a whistle-stop series of meetings afterwards, starting with a breakfast meeting
at 7am.
This will be followed
by a breakfast meeting with the US Vice President Joe Biden at 9.15 am. That
meeting will be attended by Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima, Amaechi and
Ambassador Ade Adefuye as well as Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry
of Foreign Affairs.
The meeting will be
followed by a US Government lunch on power to be hosted by the Secretary of
State John Kerry. In attendance will be Governors of Ondo and Imo.
There will also be a
bilateral meeting with Deputy Secretary of State (Defence), Robert O. Work. On
the Nigerian side will be Gen. Dambazzau, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of
Defence and Amaechi, the two non-government officials playing prominent roles.
Between 11 am and
noon, President Buhari will meet his US counterpart, Barrack Obama at the Oval
Office in the White House, followed by a 20-minute media chat.
At 12.35pm today, the
President will be joined by the Governors of Nasarawa and Borno states at a
meeting with the United States Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker .
From 1.30pm to 2pm, he
will receive in audience ECOWAS Ambassadors and at 2.35pm, the President will
hold a meeting on tackling corruption in Nigeria with the US Attorney General,
Lorreta Lynch. In attendance will be Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole, the
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice and the Solicitor General of
the Federation.
The busy schedule also
includes a meeting with the Secretary of Treasury, Jack Lew. Buhari will be
joined at that meeting by the Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele, as well as
the Director General, Budget Office. At 16.40 hrs, he will meet with potential
investors in Agriculture and at 16.45hrs with the Chamber of Commerce. At
7.00pm, he will be treated to an interactive dinner by the US Chamber of
Commerce and the Corporate Council for Africa.
On Tuesday, the
President will hold an interactive meeting at 8.00am and at 10am, he will meet
with the President of the World Bank, as well as the representative of the Bill
Gates Foundation and former Nigerian Minister of State for Health, Mohammed
Pate.
At 11.50 am, he will
be hosted by the US Department of State at a function to be attended by the
Director og the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Chairman, Joint
Chiefs of Staff.
At 4:00pm, President
Buhari will receive the Class of 1980 US War College of which he was a
participant.
The American
government also reaffirmed its earlier pledge to help Nigeria root out
terrorists.
Nigeria’s stolen
wealth stashed in different foreign accounts is believed to be in trillions of
Naira.
The President’s
Special Assistant on Media, Garba Shehu, confirmed the report by the Daily
Times on Tuesday last week that the Nigerian leader will be hosted at the
official Guest House of the United States government, the Blair House, and not
in a hotel, a major break in tradition by the hosts.
Shehu posted on his
tweeter account, a photograph he took with a US-based Nigerian tax consultant,
with the message: “The Blair House will be the official residence of President
@MBuhari all through his stay in Washington DC.”
Washington also seeks
to “reset” ties with Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy.
Buhari’s visit 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, according to Reuters.
U.S. cooperation with
the immediate past administration of Dr. 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
Reuters. “The question is would there be an opportunity to deepen our
engagement and that opportunity is now.”
It said that the
improving ties with Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, 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, 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 former Nigerian
dictator Sani Abacha and his associates into banks around the world.
Washington has broad
powers to track suspicious funds and enforce sanctions against individuals.
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.
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