As
President Muhammadu Buhari arrived in the United States of America on
Sunday night Nigerian time, indications emerged that former Rivers State
Governor, Mr. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi and former Chief of Army State
Staff (COAS), General Abdulrahaman Dambazzau may play key roles in the
new administration.
The two are non-state officials who are attending some of the highly sensitive meetings with the Nigerian leader.
The Daily Times of Nigeria exclusively obtained the itinerary of the President and his entourage.
Ahead of the visit, the US government announced readiness to help Nigeria recover looted funds.
The
President’s plane touched down at the Joint Base Andrews International
Airport in Washington DC at 4.00 am local time in the US.
He is billed to begin a whistle-stop series of meetings afterwards, starting with a breakfast meeting at 7am.
This
will be followed by a breakfast meeting with the US Vice President Joe
Biden at 9.15 am. That meeting will be attended by Borno State Governor
Kashim Shettima, Amaechi and Ambassador Ade Adefuye as well as Permanent
Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The
meeting will be followed by a US Government lunch on power to be hosted
by the Secretary of State John Kerry. In attendance will be Governors of
Ondo and Imo.
There will also be a bilateral meeting with Deputy
Secretary of State (Defence), Robert O. Work. On the Nigerian side will
be Gen. Dambazzau, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence and
Amaechi, the two non-government officials playing prominent roles.
Between
11 am and noon, President Buhari will meet his US counterpart, Barrack
Obama at the Oval Office in the White House, followed by a 20-minute
media chat.
At 12.35pm today, the President will be joined by the
Governors of Nasarawa and Borno states at a meeting with the United
States Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker .
From 1.30pm to
2pm, he will receive in audience ECOWAS Ambassadors and at 2.35pm, the
President will hold a meeting on tackling corruption in Nigeria with the
US Attorney General, Lorreta Lynch. In attendance will be Edo State
Governor Adams Oshiomhole, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of
Justice and the Solicitor General of the Federation.
The busy
schedule also includes a meeting with the Secretary of Treasury, Jack
Lew. Buhari will be joined at that meeting by the Central Bank Governor
Godwin Emefiele, as well as the Director General, Budget Office. At
16.40 hrs, he will meet with potential investors in Agriculture and at
16.45hrs with the Chamber of Commerce. At 7.00pm, he will be treated to
an interactive dinner by the US Chamber of Commerce and the Corporate
Council for Africa.
On Tuesday, the President will hold an
interactive meeting at 8.00am and at 10am, he will meet with the
President of the World Bank, as well as the representative of the Bill
Gates Foundation and former Nigerian Minister of State for Health,
Mohammed Pate.
At 11.50 am, he will be hosted by the US
Department of State at a function to be attended by the Director og the
US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of
Staff.
At 4:00pm, President Buhari will receive the Class of 1980 US War College of which he was a participant.
The American government also reaffirmed its earlier pledge to help Nigeria root out terrorists.
Nigeria’s stolen wealth stashed in different foreign accounts is believed to be in trillions of Naira.
Washington has broad powers to track suspicious funds and enforce sanctions against individuals.
Johnnie
Carson, a former assistant secretary of state, said Washington should
not let security issues overshadow the need for closer trade and
investment ties.
“Nigeria is the most important country in Africa,” said Carson, currently an adviser to the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Now
more than ever, “the relationship with Nigeria should not rest
essentially on a security and military-to-military relationship,” he
added.
Lauren Ploch Blanchard, an Africa specialist with the
non-partisan Congressional Research Services, said the U.S. challenge
was to work with Buhari while giving him time to address the country’s
vast problems.
How Buhari will handle the campaign against Boko Haram is still an unknown, Blanchard said.
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