Nigeria @61: U.S Commits to Deepening Relations with Nigeria

As Nigeria celebrates its national day, the United States felicitate it bilateral partnership with the continent’s regional, political, and economic powerhouse.

The U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard said, “We appreciate Nigeria’s leadership in the region, standing up for the integrity of democratic nations in West Africa.”

Nigeria was among the first to condemn the recent coup in Guinea, regularly recognizes the need for presidential term limits, and supports its best and brightest to serve in the highest ranks of international organizations most recently demonstrated by the recent appointed Assistant Director-General, Chikwe Ihekweazu’s at the World Health Organization.

The United States supports Nigeria’s economic growth and its mutually beneficial trade with the U.S. through both private sector engagement and government-supported initiatives such as the West Africa Trade and Investment Hub, Prosper Africa, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and the Foreign Commercial Service.

The U.S. is proud to be the largest humanitarian donor in Nigeria, providing $1.45 billion since 2015, and supporting an estimated two million conflict-affected households in the north.

The U.S. is looking forward to expanding on these economic relationships in the future.

“We commend Nigeria on its efforts to encourage dialogue and transparency at all levels of governance and continue to partner with Nigeria on efforts to improve its governing capacity.

“We are focused on strengthening Nigeria’s democratic processes and institutions and encouraging freedom of information, including efforts to enforce accountability through credible and transparent elections,” Leonard said.

According to her, The COVID-19 pandemic showed all that global challenges require global solutions.

“Our mission team partnered with Nigeria to tackle COVID-19 to save lives, promote economic recovery, and develop resilience as our experts worked side-by-side with the Presidential Task Force, Ministry of Health, and Nigerian Centre for Disease Control.”

The United  States provided more than four million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to Nigeria and contributed more than $84.2 million in COVID-related equipment and technical assistance including a mobile field hospital, 200 ventilators, and personal protective equipment.

Additional vaccine donations are in the works. We conducted epidemiological COVID detection surveys, provided rapid response teams, trained over 200,000 military and civilian personnel on COVID-19 control measures, and transferred technology for virtual training.

Through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), supporting Nigeria since 2004, the U.S. government now is providing lifesaving treatment to over 1.5 million of Nigeria’s estimated 1.8 million people living with HIV and remains committed to closing the gap to reaching HIV epidemic control by 2023.

“We also recognize that security and economic concerns weigh on the minds of all Nigerians. We work in solidarity with the Nigerian government to address those challenges together,” she added.