US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, arrived Nigeria Tuesday evening and held a closed door meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
This is Blinken’s second visit to Nigeria, he had met with former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2021. The US top diplomat is has also visited Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire and would leave Nigeria for Angola.
According to the US State Department, his visit is part of a bid to forge a united front with key African democracies as crises engulf the world.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday pledged $45 million in additional financing to help fight conflict and bring stability to coastal West Africa, where insecurity linked to jihadist insurgencies has increased in recent years.
The purpose of the trip is to discuss U.S.-African partnerships over trade, climate, infrastructure, health, security and other issues. It follows a summit in Washington with African leaders in December 2022.
Security challenges in West Africa, the fallout of a coup in Niger last year and Russia’s growing influence in the region are among key topics during Blinken’s trip.
Cote d’ Ivoire is one of several coastal West African countries impacted in recent years by Islamist insurgencies that took root in Mali in 2012 and spread across the Sahel region despite costly, internationally backed military efforts to contain it.
“We spent a lot of time discussing mutual security challenges,” Blinken said. “We appreciate Ivory Coast’s leadership in the fight against extremism and violence.”
“We have increased military training by 15 times and are investing in civil protection in Ivory Coast,” Blinken added.
