In one of my first acts since taking office as president six weeks ago, I have replaced the heads of Nigeria’s army, navy and air force.
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(AP Photo/Cliff Owen). Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is interviewed by the Associated Press at Blair House in Washington, Tuesday, July 21, 2015.
The World Bank has unfolded a $2.1billion package to be spent on rebuilding the North-eastern part of Nigeria, devastated by the Boko Haram insurgency.
I can not be against it. I told you our main objective as a government is to secure those girls safe and sound back to their school and rehabilitate them to go back to normal life.
The day after President Buhari departs Washington, President Obama leaves for Ethiopia and Kenya. He wore a traditional embroidered hat, popular among Muslims in northern Nigeria.
“When cabinet ministers are appointed in September, it will be some months after I took the oath of office”, he wrote, adding that it would have been neither “prudent nor serve the interests of sound government” to have made appointments sooner.
The Buhari meeting opened a week devoted largely to Africa issues. He, however, expressed confidence that the Takfiri militants, who have continued their deadly terror campaign since his inauguration, would be eliminated with the aid of neighboring Benin, Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
Refugees said they had run from militant attacks in Nigeria’s Borno state. We are going to deny them free movement across borders. Obama extended the invitation immediately after Buhari was declared the victor of the March election. Dozens of the schoolgirls fled captivity days after their kidnapping, but 219 of them still remain missing.
Lauren Ploch Blanchard, an Africa specialist with the non-partisan Congressional Research Services, said the US challenge was to work with Buhari while giving him time to address the country’s vast problems.
“If we are convinced that we can have the girls, why not, we can negotiate”.
President Obama looks forward to discussing with President Buhari our many shared priorities including USA.-Nigeria cooperation to advance a holistic, regional approach to combating Boko Haram, as well as Nigeria’s efforts to advance important economic and political reforms that will help unlock its full potential as a regional and global leader.
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Nigeria matters to the United States. And in relation to that, Amnesty global reports that your military has totally lost their credibility and trust of the people because of the human rights abuses; the killing of some 8000 people. The Boko Haram insurgency has killed more than 15 000 people in Nigeria since 2009. He responded with his progress in preparing a task force and his recent replacement of the military chiefs.
