Buhari to discuss security, war against B/Haram with Obama – Presidency

OKUNADE ADEKUNLE
President Muhammadu Buhari will depart Abuja Sunday to Washington DC on a four-day official visit during which he will hold high-level talks with President Barack Obama and other senior officials of the United States government, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, had disclosed.

In a statement issued yesterday, the president’s aide confirmed that, topmost on the agenda of President Buhari’s talks with President Obama and United States government officials will be measures to strengthen and intensify bilateral and international cooperation against terrorism in Nigeria and West Africa.

Buhari, who will meet with President Obama at the White House on Monday, July 20, will later hold further discussions with the Chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey and the Deputy Secretary of Defence, Robert Work, on military and defence cooperation.

The president will also meet with Vice President Joe Biden and confer with the US Attorney-General, Loretta Lynch, the US Secretary of Treasury, Jack Lew, the US Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker and the US trade representative, Michael Froman, on United States’ support for his administration’s war against corruption as well as fresh measures to boost Nigeria-United States’ trade relations.

The president, who will be received by the United States Secretary of State at the State Department in Washington DC, will later hold meetings with the United States Senate and Congressional Committees on Foreign Relations, as well as the Black Caucus of the United States House of Representatives.

Before leaving Washington DC, President Buhari will address the United States Chamber of Commerce and Corporate Council for Africa.

The president, who will be accompanied by the governors of Imo, Nasarawa, Edo, Borno and Oyo states as well as the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and permanent secretaries of the Federal Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs, Industry, Trade and Investment, will also host an interactive session with Nigerians in the American Diaspora.

The US trip will also afford President Buhari the opportunity of a reunion with members of the American War College Class of 1980 in which he was a distinguished participant.

He is due back in Abuja on Thursday, July 23.