United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Frank Garcia has given details of his meeting in a visit to Abuja, Nigeria over the country’s designation as Country with Particular Concern.
Speaking on the details of his meeting, the US embassy in Nigeria said Gracia met with senior Nigerian government officials to advance the US-Nigeria strategic partnership across security cooperation, protection of Christian communities, justice sector reform, digital transformation, commercial diplomacy, and regional stability.
Also, Assistant Secretary Garcia met with Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye; Chief of Defense Staff General Olufemi Oluyede; Minister of Justice and Attorney General Chief Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi; Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy Bosun Tijani; and National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu.
According to him, the meetings focused on defense and security and Nigeria’s increased efforts under the US-Nigeria Joint Working Group, JWG to address Nigeria’s Country of Particular Concern designation.
He also pressed the Nigerians to do more to protect Christians from attacks and stressed that greater efforts and resources must be allocated to the safe return of internally displaced persons, IDPs to their homes.
He is looking forward to the next meeting of the JWG in Washington, DC, this August to assess progress made on these lines of effort. Discussions with the attorney general addressed Islamic terrorism prosecutions, criminal accountability, and religious freedom.
