On Monday, President Buhari met with President Obama and
Vice President Joe Biden at the Oval Office at the US White House, the National
security advisor, Susan Rice and Secretary of State, John Kerry were also in
attendance. Below is the full text from the two president's joint press
briefing;
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 business people 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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