Sunday, June 14, 2026 · Lagos

The NEWS

Defining The Present, Shaping The Future

Defining The Present, Shaping The FutureSUBSCRIBE ₦1,000/MO
, , ,

Cover Story: Buhari returns from US with Promissory Notes

Enjoying this story? Read the full magazine — archive back to 1993.

The US President also listed other areas that his country is ready to collaborate with Nigeria to include public health issues, acknowledging that the success the country has recorded in the fight against Ebola, eradication of polio can serve as a framework and a template to tackle health issues in the continent. “We’ll have a chance to talk about issues of climate change, electrification. As many of you know, Power Africa is one of our top priorities, making sure that we’re electrifying the continent so that it can grow faster and more people have access to the power that they need. So we’ve got a busy agenda, but I want to emphasise how much I appreciate President Buhari’s work so far,” Obama said while affirming that his country was willing to stand by Nigeria as long as it remained on course, adding, “Wherever Nigeria goes, Africa goes. The continent’s destiny is tied to Nigeria’s.”

Aside this, the US President also advised the President on a couple of issues, including combining military action with social and economic problems to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency.

In his response, Buhari expressed gratitude to the United States for standing by Nigeria to ensure that the results of the 2015 elections were not just credible, but respected.

The President noted that the visit of the US Secretary of State John Kerry to Nigeria before the elections to see the former president, the former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the opposition was a positive development that saw Nigeria through the elections. “And the maintenance of pressure by United States mainly and Europe to make sure that the elections were free, fair and credible brought us to where we are today. It would have been almost impossible if the United States did not maintain the pressure on the former Nigerian government. Nigeria will remain ever grateful to President Obama and the United States for helping Nigeria to consolidate its gains on a democratic system,” said Buhari who also thanked Obama for inviting him to visit his country.

Before his meeting with Obama, the President and his team were hosted to a breakfast meeting with Vice President Joe Bidden.

In an opinion article published later in Washington Post the same day, Buhari had revealed that he had sought the support of the American President in locating and repatriating the over $150 billion stolen in the past 10 years. This, he said indicated the need for a paradigm shift in the way the country has been governed in the past. “The fact that I now seek Obama assistance in locating and returning $150 billion in funds stolen in the past decade and held in foreign bank accounts on behalf of former corrupt officials is a testament to how badly Nigeria has been run,” said Buhari. “This way of conducting our affairs cannot continue,” the Nigerian President said in the article in which he also announced that he will not appoint ministers until September.

He attributed the delay to the need to set new ground rules in governance before the constitution of the cabinet. “In Nigeria’s case, it would neither be prudent nor serve the interest of sound government to have made these appointments immediately on my elevation to the presidency; instead, Nigeria must first put new rules of conduct and good governance in place,” said Buhari.

Just like Obama, Biden had reportedly informed his guest what the US had learnt from the terror war, counselling that victory could not come through the military option alone: “Military option must be combined with strong socio-economic support programmes.” He promised that the US would work with Nigeria in that direction as well as provide assistance to rebuild the Nigerian economy while emphasizing that the problems of corruption and weak institutions must be tackled if Nigeria was to benefit from reforms.

Photo-Op: Buhari, Nigerian governors, Biden, Obama
Photo-Op: Buhari, Nigerian governors, Biden, Obama

The US Vice President also advised the President to ensure that those appointed to manage the key sectors of the economy are seasoned technocrats to enhance the prospect of attracting investors into Nigeria.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.