The Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, on Thursday, in Abuja, said Nigeria and the United States should collaborate more, considering the need for concerted efforts to tackle the spread of terrorism, especially in the Sahel region.
According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, Osinbajo said this when he received at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the visiting Undersecretary for Political Affairs, US State Department, Victoria Nuland, alongside a US delegation, including its Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Mary Leonard.
Highlighting the need for a more comprehensive approach to tackling terrorism in the region and the Sahel, the VP noted that the spread of terrorist organizations, such as ISWAP and Boko Haram, should be tackled ‘firmly and permanently.’
While commending the US government for providing support to Nigeria in its fight against Boko Haram and terrorism, with the delivery of the first batch of Super Tucano jets and the proposed purchase of 12 AH-1Z Cobra attack helicopters to Nigeria, Osinbajo stated that the cooperation between the two countries had been “extremely fruitful and rewarding, especially for us.”
Osinbajo added that Nigeria was committed to conducting free and fair elections next year.
“So far, we have seen peaceful elections in the primaries…and as we go along, we will get a firmer grip of the security issues; we must thank you for the cooperation of the American government that we see so far,” he said.
In her remarks, the US Under-Secretary for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, acknowledged Nigeria’s advocacy for using gas as a transition fuel.
Nuland said, “You are absolutely right about gas. I’ve worked a lot on the response to Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Europeans now understand as they try to cut their dependence on Moscow that they need alternative democratic sources of gas, and they are waking up to the fact that Nigeria and others countries can fill that gap needed.”
