PRESIDENT
OBAMA: Well, it’s a great pleasure to welcome President Buhari and
his delegation here to the Oval Office for his first visit since the historic
election that took place.
Nigeria is obviously one of the
important countries in the world and one of the most important countries in the
African continent. Recently, we saw an election in which a peaceful transition
to a new government took place. And it was an affirmation of Nigeria’s
commitment to democracy, a recognition that although Nigeria is a big country
and a diverse country with many different parts, nevertheless the people of
Nigeria understand that only through a peaceful political process can change
take place....
President Buhari comes into
office with a reputation for integrity and a very clear agenda, and that is to
make sure that he is bringing safety and security and peace to his country.
He’s very concerned about the
spread of Boko Haram and the violence that’s taken place there, and the
atrocities that they’ve carried out, and has a very clear agenda in defeating
Boko Haram and extremists of all sorts inside of his country. And he has a very
clear agenda with respect to rooting out the corruption that too often has held
back the economic growth and prosperity of his country.
On both these issues, we’re
looking forward to hearing more about his plans and how the United States can
partner with Nigeria so that Nigeria ends up being an anchor not only of prosperity
and stability in the eastern part of the continent, but can also be an
outstanding role model for developing countries around the world.
And we very much look forward to
talking about security issues, how we can cooperate on counterterrorism. We’re
looking forward to discussing how we can be helpful in addressing some of the
corruption issues that have held Nigeria back, and unleashing the incredible
talent of the Nigerian people. We all recognize that some of the best
businesspeople in the world are from Nigeria, and they thrive as they travel to
other countries, but we want to make sure that they’re also helping folks
thrive in Nigeria.
We’re also going to have an
opportunity to talk about some of the other areas where Nigeria has taken
leadership — in public health issues, fighting tragedies like Ebola. Nigeria
has an outstanding track record working with us to eradicate polio, and that
gives us a framework and a template to continue to work on public health issues
throughout the western part of Africa, as well as throughout the subcontinent.
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 emphasize how much I appreciate President Buhari’s work so far. I’m
looking forward to seeing him put together his team so that we can do
everything that we can to help him succeed and help the people of Nigeria
succeed. Because if they’re successful and doing well, that will have a ripple
effect not only in West Africa, but throughout the world.
So thank you very much. Mr. President.
PRESIDENT
BUHARI: Nigeria will remain ever grateful to President Obama and the
United States for making Nigeria to consolidate its gains on a democratic
system. The visit of the Secretary of State, when he visited Nigeria to see the
President and the whole government of Nigeria, see the Chairman of Independent
National Electoral Commission for Nigeria, and saw the operation was very clear
and a positive trend that saw us through for this credible election we had.
And the maintenance of pressure
by the United States, mainly, and Europe, to make sure that the elections were
free, fair and credible led us to where we are now. It would have been almost
impossible if the United States did not maintain the pressure on the former
Nigerian government, but they would not accept anything less constitutional as
far as the processes of the election are concerned. We will ever remain
grateful to you because there are fundamental objectives that are identify all
of Nigeria’s people’s Congress — security, economy, employment especially of
youth, and then fighting corruption.
We are extremely happy that the
United States had made it absolutely clear before the election that they are
prepared to help Nigeria in this aspect. And this is why I am here, and I am
very grateful for the invitation Mr. President extended to me.
Thank you very much, Mr.
President.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you so
much.
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