Reasons have been given why President
Barack Obama won’t visit Nigeria during his upcoming three-nation trip to
Africa.
According to US officials, the
ongoing insecurity appeared to be responsible for the exclusion of Nigeria in
Obama’s second visit to the continent.
Obama is scheduled to visit Senegal,
Tanzania and South Africa.
The US government said the trip would
focus on trade and investment, democratic institution-building, young people,
and enhancing economic growth.
American Deputy National Security
Advisor, Ben Rhodes, made this clarifications at a briefing on Tuesday.
The briefing was addressed jointly
with the Senior Director for African Affairs Grant Harris and Senior Director
for Development and Democracy Gayle Smith, on Obama’s upcoming visit.
The text of the briefing was made
available to journalists in Abuja by the Information Office of the Public
Affairs Section of the US Embassy.
Rhodes said, “With respect to
Nigeria, we certainly believe that Nigeria is a fundamentally important country
to the future of Africa. We’ve put a lot of investment in the relationship with
Nigeria through their leadership of ECOWAS, through the significant US business
investment in Nigeria and through our security cooperation.
“Obviously, Nigeria is working
through some very challenging security issues right now. And in that process,
they’re going to be a partner of the United States. We certainly believe we’ll
have an opportunity to further engage the Nigerian government through bilateral
meetings going forward. But at this point, we just were not able to make it to
Nigeria on this particular itinerary.
“I will say that we purposefully
designed the itineraries to be able to reach West Africa, South Africa
and East Africa, and in West Africa, to visit Senegal, a French-speaking,
Muslim-majority democracy that is an important partner of the United States and
also provides a platform for the President to speak to the broader region.
“We are also looking at ways, at the
President’s town hall in South Africa with young African leaders, to draw in
through technology young people in Nigeria and in Kenya, among other places, so
that the President is using this trip to speak to the broader African audience.
We recognize we’d like to go to as many countries as possible.’’
Tags
Politics
Insecurity start in the USA and is still there. So that is not the reason. His coming is only to support his gay friends while himself has a wife and children. Waiting to see him go to Kenya, his father's home land. Safe journey Obama! Nigerians have more important things to do than your visit!!!
ReplyDeleteAll u just said is good and correct. I love u.
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