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The Barrack Obama-led administration has stated that Nigeria has a brighter future if the government approaches it together with the United States as its major strategic partner.
Reviewing the outcome of the just concluded Nigeria-US Bi-National Commission high-level meetings in Washington DC, the United States Deputy Secretary, Mr. William J. Burn said that “Nigeria’s future, full of promise and risk, has no shortage of unknowns. But let me close with one certainty: that future will be brighter if we approach it together”.
Burn continued that the Governance, Transparency and Integrity Working Group of the Commission looked toward the 2015 national elections in Nigeria, stressing that the elections would mark another milestone in building on the most credible elections in Nigeria’s history last April.
He also noted that both countries have identified electoral reforms in Nigeria and opportunities to improve the electoral process, saying that there was need for interagency coordination and strategies to build capacity and public confidence in Nigeria’s anti-corruption efforts.
“Six of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world are in sub-Saharan Africa – Nigeria among them. In five years, the IMF predicts it will be seven of the top ten. The need to deliver on the hopes and aspirations of our people has never been greater. Neither has the depth of our dialogue or the momentum behind it” he said.
Mr. Burn pressed further that the Regional Security Working Group of the BNC would help educate the Nigerian public about the government’s efforts to secure its citizens and prevent the spread of violent extremism, adding that the government of his country would continue to work with its Nigerian partners to improve the capacity of its military and police units, as a part of the government’s overall effort to respond to the needs of communities vulnerable to violent extremism.
