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Nigeria’s Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, says the time has come for both Nigeria and the United States to deepen the long-standing relationship between the countries based on mutual trust.
A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity to the Office of the Vice President, Laolu Akande, on Wednesday, revealed Mr Osinbajo’s position.
According to the statement, he made the call for strengthened relations at the Presidential Villa, while receiving the Commander of the U.S-Africa Command, General Thomas D. Waldhauser and the American Ambassador in Nigeria, Honorable W. Stuart Symington.
“We will be very open and willing to build a relationship based on trust, so that we would benefit from it and of course our relationship as nations would benefit tremendously from it,” the Acting President stated.
He also observed that Nigeria’s relationship with the U.S, was a very important one, “and has been so for many years, even so now at a time like this for us”.
Osinbajo further stated that the Federal Government is appreciative of the U.S’ support over the last few years.
According to him, “it is the belief of the Buhari presidency that the United States is committed to helping us with some of our challenges especially in the Northeast”.
He also explained that issues around human rights concerns in the country, should be viewed against the context of an unusual kind of warfare with terrorists and insurgents.
“The kind of warfare we are engaged with in many ways are unprecedented for our military,” the President said, while noting the sheer brutality and mindlessness of terrorists who he believes are “prepared to kill children in their sleep, abduct girls and prepared to die, even using teenage girls as suicide bombers.”
He restated the readiness of the Buhari administration to end the problems “as quickly as possible”.
While emphasising on the support of the U.S so far, he stated that the Federal Government is open to more U.S military cooperation and also assistance in dealing with the consequent humanitarian situation in the northeast.
“The U.S has been a reliable partner we can trust, especially from what they have done in the past, we want to see how much more you can do for us and the region,” Professor Osinbajo stated.
In his remarks, the head of the U.S Africa Command, expressed the readiness of the government to “accelerate” its contributions, adding that there is a sense that “we want to get on and solve the problem”.
General Waldhauser, also noted that his visit to Nigeria is about developing further “the friendship and trust that we have in common,” while also agreeing with the acting president that the brutality shown by the terrorists is what we have never seen before”.
Also airing his views, Ambassador Symington, said he had just concluded a visit to all the geo-political zones of the country and has concluded that “Nigeria is one of the greatest countries in the world with the potential to change the world”.
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