N/Assembly, US Congressmen meet on North East, security crises
(Right) President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki presenting a
souvenir to the leader of US Congress delegation, Senator Christopher Coons,
with them is the Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Ado Doguwa,
during a meeting between the US Congress with the leadership of the National
Assembly in Abuja on Monday
The U.S. delegation led by Senator Christopher Coons included
Senators Gary Peters and Michael Bennet; U.S. Representatives, Lisa Blunt
Rochester, Terri Sewell, Charlie Dent, Barbara Lee and Frederica Wilson. They
were accompanied by US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Stuart Symminton.
“Today’s meeting was held to discuss ways to improve the
relationship between the U.S. and Nigeria; look at securing greater support in
the fight against terrorism and for the humanitarian crisis in different parts
of the country,” the Senate President said, “We also discussed improving
agriculture in Nigeria and providing jobs for our people.”
Saraki also stated that the American congressional
delegation and the National Assembly discussed ways to strengthen the
institutional relationships between Nigeria and the US.
“I think the commitment that we have is that they have seen
that there is a need to strengthen the institutional relationships between the
legislatures of both our countries and that is very key,” Saraki said.
On the issue of the arms purchase from the United States, the
Senate President said: “As you are aware, there is a new development that has
happened in respect to the procurement of arms by the country. For the first
time, the US Government have agreed in principle to sell arms to Nigeria to
help in our fight against the insurgency. Of course, we will look into areas of
human rights where there has always been a concern.
“We hope that following this visit, the sale of the arms to
our armed forces will now become a reality. This will represent a new chapter
that we are opening — where the US government will be ready to sell arms to
Nigeria and that will help to strengthen the efforts of our armed forces in the
fight against terrorism, surveillance and intelligence.
“The commitment that they have made today is that terrorism
is an issue that should not be left to Nigeria alone, and if it means that we
may need to secure new weapons from other countries, then it is an option that
needs to be urgently explored. However, we will also continue to play our own
role in the area of human rights,” he said.
Saraki also emphasized that the US delegation expressed
optimism about Nigeria’s future. “From all indications, they were very excited
about Nigeria and what the future holds for the country. Now, we need to see
how we can further strengthen the relations between our two countries,” he
said.
Comments
Post a Comment