President Muhammadu Buhari will on Monday hold high-level talks with the U.S. President Barack Obama which will centre on measures that will strengthen and intensify bilateral and international cooperation against terrorism in Nigeria and West-Africa.
The talks are part of a four-day official visit of the Nigerian President, who will leave the nation’s capital, Abuja, on Sunday for the U.S.
A statement by a spokesman for the President, Mr Femi Adesina, said President Buhari, during the official visit, would also hold talks with other senior officials of the United States government.
“President Buhari, who will meet with President Obama at the White House on Monday, July 20, will later hold further discussions with the Chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey and the Deputy Secretary of Defence, Robert Work on military and defence cooperation.
“The President will also meet with Vice President Joe Biden and confer with the US Attorney-General, Loretta Lynch, the US Secretary of Treasury, Jack Lew, the US Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker and the US Trade representative, Michael Froman on United States support for his administration’s war against corruption as well as fresh measures to boost Nigeria-United States trade relations,” the statement read.
Mr Adesina said that the President would later hold meetings with the United States Senate and Congressional Committees on Foreign Relations, as well as the Black Caucus of the United States House of Representatives.
He said the President, before leaving Washington DC, would address the United States Chamber of Commerce and Corporate Council for Africa.
President Buhari will also host an interactive session with Nigerians in the American Diaspora.
The US trip will also afford President Buhari the opportunity of a reunion with members of the American War College Class of 1980 in which he was a distinguished participant.
The President will be accompanied by the Governors of Imo, Nasarawa, Edo, Borno and Oyo States as well as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and Permanent Secretaries of the Federal Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs, Industry, Trade and Investment.
He is due back in Abuja on Thursday, July 23.
The White House had on June 25 announced that President Obama will host President Buhari Buhari on July 20.
The visit will mark “our support for the Nigerian people following their historic democratic elections and peaceful transfer of power,” a White House statement read.