Nigeria needs to deal with the issues with corruption if it is to attract investments into the country, the United States of America’s Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, has said.
Nuland made this remark at a press briefing with selected media correspondents on Thursday at the US Ambassador to Nigeria’s residence, Maitama, Abuja.
“The United States government would love to see more investors in Nigeria but there is a need for an enabling environment as corruption remains an obstacle,” she said.
According to the envoy, Nigeria is a pivotal country in Africa that other African countries look up to Nigeria as a role model , saying it was for this reason that the United States is interested in Nigeria.
She said the US government is strategically interested in Nigeria because the country practices democracy and is the sole decider in the growth of the African continent.
She said, “The way Nigeria goes is the way the continent goes. Concerning our strategic interest in the country, there’s always a war between authoritarianism and democracy, and considering the fact that Nigeria is the largest democracy in Africa, if Nigeria can become increasingly stable and secure, empower its population, diversify its economy and empower the next generation, it will be a powerful engine not only for itself but for the African continent and all democracies across the world.”
Nuland who met with Vice-President Professor Yemi Osinbajo, and the Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari, at the State House, said her visit was on security, free, fair, credible and peaceful elections.
Nuland said, “We have been focusing on the issues of security, free, fair, credible, and peaceful elections. We also talked more broadly about our security relationship, but at the high end in terms of the holistic approach to security, earlier we delivered some Tucano jets, and we are about to have a new delivery of helicopters as well.
“Concerning our cooperation, we talked about the fact that security needs to be about countering terrorism at the high end, however, it also needs to be about what comes behind it – such as better governance, employment, and better opportunity, which would drive out the ability of terrorists and terrorism to return to communities.”
She said for Nigeria to root out terrorists from communities, the government must also provide sustainable policing, community security, better services, and good governance, otherwise, the terrorists would always be back.
“The way terrorists get into communities and destroy the fabric of the nation is ‘an evil thing.’ We think that Nigeria, with our support, needs to address this in a holistic way. However, what we are trying to do now in our collaboration with the government is to integrate the air and ground approach to security.”
She also praised Nigeria for providing leadership in the Economic Community of West African States, she said, “We need a regional approach to this problem because these terrorists are running across borders, and we all need to work together. Nigeria plays a huge role not only for its own security but also for the security of the region, through the ECOWAS.”
Nuland, who also met with some members of civil society organisations to discuss the forthcoming 2023 general election among other issues, noted that the U.S. was very pleased with the new Electoral Act and also the longer period for campaigns towards the elections.
She said, “We’re very pleased with the new Electoral Act and also the longer period for campaigns towards the elections. The United States will support the Independent National Electoral Commission, and the police, to provide security because we know there is quite a bit of anxiety about that.”
