Takeaways From The Auspicious Meeting Between Presidents Muhammadu Buhari And Donald Trump

This note is written by one who is mindful of the fact that there are Nigerians, I mean the opponents of this administration, who have prayed and prayed very hard that our President in the course of his historic visit to the White House on Monday, April 30, 2018, would stumble badly or come back with nothing.

President Buhari, to the disappointment of this group, delivered a calm, brilliant performance. He refused to be provoked and did not get angry at the taunting. He instead turned his attention to the task at hand and at the end, came home satisfied that he got everything he wanted from the US administration. The Rose Garden worked out very much for him as a routine engagement, certainly not like the make-or-break meeting as some wanted it to be.

It is also important that records be set straight to counter the mischief of opponents, some of whom have started rendering false narratives of a meeting to which they were neither invited nor in any way aware of its details.

The meeting of the two leaders happened in three phases.

First, the one-on-one in which only the two of them were present. Then they had a working lunch, each leader accompanied by ten top officials. President Buhari had with him the Governors of Ogun and Plateau; the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Justice, Industry, Trade and Investment; the Chairpersons of Senate and House of Representatives committees on international relations; the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA; the Chief of Defence Staff and Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States.

The US President had more-or-less the same representation, except that the Secretary of State who just got cleared for the job by the Senate hadn’t assumed so he was represented by the Deputy Secretary of State.

President Trump also brought with him the Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) which I must emphasize, is significant to Nigeria given the fact that the U.S. remains the largest contributor to the on-going effort to reconstruct the Northeast and resettle its millions of displaced persons.

The third engagement involving the two leaders was the joint press conference by the leaders, aired live by some major TV networks across the world.

What did the meetings achieve?

First of all, it is important to state that from the very beginning, the two leaders got on very well with one another. They also shared a common respect for each other.

Some key remarks made by President Trump on our president sum this up:

He said President Buhari “is a rare leader”; he said “I respect him a lot” and said our leader had “succeeded in cutting down corruption”. He called President Buhari a “valued partner” and a “strong democrat.”

The two parties had agreed before the meeting that discussions will be on three key issues namely Security/Counter Terrorism, Trade, and Development of Democracy in Nigeria.

On security, the Nigerian delegation was pleased from the onset that the Trump administration had agreed to the major sale of military equipment to Nigeria. Team Nigeria was equally pleased about the much-increased role of the US in assisting the efforts to defeat terrorism in Nigeria and the Lake Chad region in general.

The President expressed appreciation for these and requested additional support to counter insurgency.

On the specific issue of the sale of the 12 Super Tucano A-29 warplanes and weapons to Nigeria to effectively fight terrorism, President Buhari told his American counterpart that we are pleased with this, but want delivery to be fast-tracked, given the security situation in the country.

Expectedly, President Trump said yes to this, and, additionally promised the sale of helicopters and about just everything President Buhari wanted.

Still on President Buhari’s meeting with Trump, it is important to explain the context of the remarks by President Trump where he was quoted as saying the U.S is concerned about the murder or killing, as he put it, of Christians. At the press conference, President Trump towards the end of his remarks, at the briefing, mentioned the protection of ‘‘innocent civilians of all faiths, including Muslims and Christians’’, which reporters left out.

In his remarks, the US President neither chided nor talked down on President Buhari. Saying that “we will do something about that,” is a clear expression of willingness to support Nigeria to bring to an end the unwanted killings. This is contrary to the press reporting which jumped on the issue, conveying a wrong impression that President Trump was only concerned about the lives of Christians. He mentioned Muslim lives as well.

Equally wrong was the hasty condemnation of the U.S. President by some Muslim groups in the country without the benefit of a full view and understanding of what was said and the context in which it was said.

The President also conveyed the country’s appreciation for the U.S. support for the humanitarian situation in the Northeast, with a contribution of 500 million US Dollars in cash and in-kind contributions, the highest by anyone, through the United Nations and other inter-governmental organizations.

But the scope of work to be done is larger than anyone had envisaged and Nigeria wanted the US to do more. President Trump didn’t say no, only that he wanted more access to the Nigerian market for their agricultural goods.

“For a country which we assist with USD 1 billion dollars every year, you must do more to open the market to us,” Trump said. These are matters to be debated and resolved.

This leads us to the next important issue- Trade. Pointedly, President Trump did not mince words when he said: ‘‘President Buhari has also taken several steps to fight corruption and improve the Nigerian business climate. And most of all to me — and again — is ripping down those trade barriers. These measures will make it easier for Nigeria and the United States companies to invest. And we will be investing substantially in Nigeria if they can create that level playing field that we have to very much ask for, and maybe demand.’’

In acknowledging the efforts of President Buhari and the significance of the Nigerian economy on the continent of Africa, President Trump promised to grow trade and commercial ties between the two countries to create wealth and jobs for the benefit of their citizens.

Talks were also held between the Nigerian delegation and American Chief Executive Officers, who came from across various industries especially agriculture, digital economy and increasing value additions to locally produced raw materials.

Some of the broad level discussions on the business side included the planned coming of a John Deer tractor assembly plant to produce 10,000 tractors, which will certainly create thousands of jobs in Nigeria. Also on the table were several investment proposals across the food value chain including the production of chemicals for crop protection; a large-scale seed production company in Nigeria; a food ingredients company that will, among others set up an oilseed crushing plant with a capacity for about 50 million tons and a business engagement with local partners for the facilitation of international merchandising of local farm produce, serving as a firm assurance of buyer at the time of harvest.

There are plans by the Dangote Group and others for new partnerships to bring research and high yielding crop varieties that have seen increases elsewhere from two to six tons of maize and two to seven tons of rice per acreage as achieved in Brazil and other countries.

Other new businesses proposed at the meetings included the setting up of consumer products by big giants like Proctor and Gamble, a refinery in Ogun, Burger King food chain and a plant for the production of Heinz tomato products, in all cases, walking back to integrate local producers of raw materials.

With the blessing of the two leaders, assets recovery is also getting a major boost. The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami was directed to sit down with Jeff Sessions, his US counterpart to have a roadmap for the recovery of USD 500 million of Nigerian stolen assets hidden in the US. They will also finalize on the return of USD 1 million of the Diepreye Alamieyeseigha loot.

Immediately after the bilateral engagement, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama and Minister of Justice, Malami, met with their U.S. counterparts. In the months ahead, the Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, will also meet with his U.S. counterpart, Wilbur Ross.

If the trip to the White House is to be judged according to its set objectives, there is nowhere it came short as some saucy opponents have said. President Buhari got everything we wanted from President Donald Trump.

When he was asked if Nigeria had succeeded in getting American to buy more of our oil, President Buhari said he did not. We have others buying our oil. Must we sell to a particular buyer?

This government will smartly work with the current American government, knowing that American interests are not always ours, as a strategic partner on security, anti-corruption economic growth and job creation.

By Garba Shehu
Senior Special Assistant to the President, Media & Publicity
May 3, 2018

Speech by President Buhari during his Working Lunch on his Visit to the United States

Mr. president,

Senior Government officials,

I have just had excellent discussions with President Trump and I would like to reiterate my immense gratitude to you, Mr. President for your kind invitation and the very warm and generous hospitality extended to me and my delegation since our arrival in the United States;

We greatly appreciate the importance your administration attaches to a strong relationship with Nigeria. The United States remains for us a valued friend and strategic partner, whose support and solidarity over the years has meant a great deal to us. Our government’s three main priority areas are:

a) Security
b) Anti-corruption and good governance
c) Economic growth and job creation

We congratulate you, Mr. President on the statesmanly role you have played in so dramatically transforming the course of events in the Korean Peninsula to make the denuclearization of the region a real possibility.

On security, please accept our sincere congratulations on the important role played by the US in the defeat of ISIS, although some of the remnants have found their way to the Sahel region. We are very grateful for the strong US support in our fight against terrorism. We also appreciate very much your agreement to sell twelve Super Tucano A-29 war planes and weapons to Nigeria to effectively fight terrorism.

To contain the spate of insurgency in Nigeria, the Federal government has adopted a multi-sectoral approach, involving relevant government agencies to address the socio-economic and political dimensions while the Armed Forces of Nigeria assist the civil authorities to provide security and maintain law and order.

As part of efforts to address emerging cases of insurgency in the country, the Nigerian Military adopted a non-kinetic counter terrorism/counter insurgency approach code-named “Operation safe corridor”, to de-radicalize, re-habilitate, and re-integrate willingly surrendered Boko-Haram members into the larger society.

This programme is currently embarking on a number of projects including: skill acquisition centers and integrated farms; comprising poultry, fishpond and greenhouse farming, among others.

A number of international partners, including the International Organization for Migration have contributed to the success of Operation Safe Corridor. We will also appreciate whatever support we could also get from the US.

We are extremely grateful for your government’s support in the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in the North East of Nigeria, as well as humanitarian assistance to the Internally Displaced Persons, through agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development and other international partners.

The USA has been to date the biggest contributor to the humanitarian response and last year gave approximately 500 million US Dollars in cash and in-kind contributions through the United Nations and other inter-governmental organizations. These have mainly supported protection activities, namely health, food assistance and shelter.

We are doing all we can to secure the release of the remaining abducted schoolgirls from Dapchi and Chibok. In this context, we will continue to welcome US collaboration in intelligence gathering, hostage negotiations and information-sharing.

The government is taking necessary steps to promote the peaceful co-existence of herdsmen and farmers, by focusing on boosting security and enforcing legislation that will guarantee herders and farmers’ access to land, reducing strife and promoting harmonizing economic activities.

I wish to extend sincere congratulations to you and your government on the impressive performance of the US economy under your watch.

Our aim is to diversify our economy by focusing on agriculture and food security; power and infrastructure. We have cut the importation of rice by about 90% thereby saving a significant amount of money. We very much welcome increased US investment in the Nigerian economy, especially in the non-oil sector.

Economic relations between Nigeria and the United States are anchored on three major instruments, namely: the Bi-National Commission, Trade and Investment Framework Agreement and the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act.

The Bi-National Commission in particular, comprising bilateral political, economic, developmental and humanitarian partnership, is a basic economic framework for engagement between our two countries.

Nigeria’s trade volume with the United States stood at six point zero-seven billion United States Dollars according to 2016 statistics and comprised four point one-seven-six billion united States dollars worth of Nigerian exports to the US and one point eight-nine-four billion United States Dollars US exports to Nigeria. We should work to increase these figures substantially and to make balance of trade more even.

We thank your government very much for the cooperation we have received in our effort to recover stolen funds. Our two governments have put the machinery in place for their respective Attorneys-General to collaborate in ensuring the return to Nigeria of over five hundred million United States Dollars ($500) of looted funds siphoned away in banks around the world.

In this connection, we congratulate the US government on launching a Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, which was spearheaded by the US Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering. We hope that we can continue to count on your support in our efforts to recover our money.

The Government of Nigeria remains deeply committed to the principles of human rights as well as the promotion and protection of people’s freedom, even in the process of fighting terror. We will ensure that all documented cases of human rights abuses are investigated and those responsible for violations held accountable for their actions.

In addition, the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria inaugurated the Nigerian Military Human Rights Dialogue in August 2015 to provide the Nigerian Military and Para-Military with necessary tools to integrate human rights practices into their code, education systems, field training and disciplinary systems.

To this end, the victims of a criminal law enforcement operation that occurred in 2013 (otherwise known as Apo-six) were compensated in April this year based on the findings of the National Human Rights Commission. Two of the police officers responsible were convicted for culpable homicide arising from the extra-judicial killings.

Mr. President, this is the first time in the history of Nigeria that the Federal Government compensated the victims of extra-judicial killings. It also provides a sustainable platform for local and international human rights organizations to constructively engage the Nigerian security forces on human rights concerns. We also look to share best practices in this area with the United States.

I thank you, Mr. President, again for hosting us and for your constructive response to our shaped problems. I hope you make Nigeria the first port of call whenever you visit African continent.

Press Release: President Buhari Leaves Saturday For Meeting With President Trump

President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Abuja on 28th April 2018, on an official working visit to the United States of America, on the invitation of President Donald Trump.

President Buhari will have bilateral meeting with President Trump and a working lunch on Monday 30th April 2018.

The meeting is to discuss ways to enhance the strategic partnership between the two countries and to advance shared priorities, such as: promoting economic growth, fighting terrorism and other threats to peace and security.

The meeting will further deepen the US-Nigeria relationship as the United States considers Nigeria’s economic growth, security and leadership in Africa to be critical aspects of their strategic partnership.

Later in the day, President Buhari will meet with a group of business persons in agriculture and agro-processing, dairy and animal husbandry.

Ahead of the visit by President Buhari, meetings have been scheduled on 26th and 27th April, 2018, between senior Nigerian Government officials and executives of major US companies in the areas of agriculture, aviation and transportation.

In the area of aviation, the Nigerian officials will be meeting with Boeing, the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, on the National Carrier Project.

On agriculture, they will meet with large equipment manufacturers with focus on harvesting and post harvesting equipment.

In the area of transportation, the officials will meet with the GE-led consortium for the implementation of the interim phase of the narrow gauge rail concession.

In the interim phase, a substantive concession agreement will be negotiated and finalized to provide the consortium the opportunity to invest an estimated $2bn, to modernize the rail line from Lagos to Kano (Western Line) and from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri (Eastern Line). During the meeting, the concession framework and the interim phase framework agreements are expected to be signed.

The Nigerian officials will also meet with US-EXIM Bank and the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation to explore competitive financing arrangements.

It is noteworthy that in 2017, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the United States Department of Commerce signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote and encourage commercial and investment ties between Nigeria and the United States, with initial focus on infrastructure, agriculture, digital economy, investment and regulatory reforms.

Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity)
April 27, 2018

Press Release: VP Osinbajo To Speak At Harvard As US Ivy School Starts Business Lecture Titled “Africa Rising”

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, on the invitation of Harvard University, Boston, United States, would be delivering the inaugural, keynote lecture on “Africa Rising” at Harvard Business School on Tuesday, January 16, 2018.

In extending its invitation to the Vice President, the university noted that it deeply admired the immense progress that Nigeria has made by the Buhari presidency including the work of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).

“It would be the highest honour for us were you to accept our invitation as we deeply admire the immense progress that Nigeria has made,” the Harvard invitation noted, commending in particular the work of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council.

Nigeria’s rise in world economic rankings and the vast range of business initiatives in the country were also noted.

The top US university further describes the lecture as “a historic moment” as it would be the first time that an Africa-focused course will be offered at Harvard Business School.

During the lecture, Prof. Osinbajo would highlight the progress made by the Buhari administration in the area of improving the country’s economy and investment climate.

In the latest World Bank Doing Business index, Nigeria climbed up 24 places and was placed on the list of 10 most reformed economies globally.

Alongside the President, the VP has been a strong advocate in the future of a greater Africa, and has proffered solutions on how to make the continent work better for its people and the rest of the world.

In a keynote address at the Financial Times Summit in London recently, the Vice President emphasised the depth of talent and innovation across Agriculture, ICT, Hospitality, Fashion, Energy, Manufacturing, Entertainment, and many other fields.

The Vice President, who will leave for Boston today, is expected back in Abuja later on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Prof. Osinbajo had, alongside President Muhammadu Buhari, laid wreaths in honour of fallen heroes of the Nigerian Army at the National Arcade, Abuja to mark the 2018 Armed Forces Remembrance Day.

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
15 January, 2017