United States President Donald Trump has read what might be described as a riot act to the Nigerian government, saying the continued killing of Christians in the country is unacceptable.

He said this, yesterday when he received President Muhammadu Buhari at the White House for talks aimed at boosting the strategic partnership between both countries.

Expressing concern over the killing of Christians by Boko Haram, Trump said America would do everything to halt terrorist activities in Nigeria.

“We have met before, developing a great relationship. We look forward to our discussions today. They are very important, but again, especially as it relates to terrorism. That is terrorism here and terrorism all over the world. It’s a hotbed and we are going to be stopping them.

“Also, we have had a very serious problem with Christians who are being murdered, killed in Nigeria. We will be working on that problem, and working on that problem very, very hard, because we can’t allow that to happen,” he said.

The U.S. President said his country would invest substantially in Nigeria, if Buhari creates a level-playing field by removing barriers to trade between the countries.

Acknowledging that Nigeria is one of America’s largest trading partners in the region, he disclosed that the U.S. provides it with more than $1 billion a year in foreign aid and wants Nigeria to take down trade barriers in return. According to him, “We think that we are owed that.”

He said: “Nigeria has a reputation for very massive corruption. I also know that the President (Buhari) has been able to cut that down very substantially. We talked about that. He is working on it and they have made a lot of progress, and I think they will continue to make a lot of progress.”

On tackling insecurity, Trump noted: “We’re helping Nigeria by facilitating intelligence cooperation and providing military training and equipment. We recently sold Nigeria 12 Super Tucano aircraft in the first-ever sale of American military equipment to Nigeria. Nigeria is a valued partner and a good friend.”

Responding, Buhari acknowledged the deteriorating insecurity in Nigeria and expressed appreciation for U.S. assistance in military training to curb terrorism in the northeast.

He said: “Certainly, security is the main issue. We are very grateful to the United States for agreeing to give us the aircraft we asked and the spare parts.

We are even more grateful for the physical presence of the United States military instructors that go into our institutions and train them, and go to the front in the northeast, to see how they are performing as a result of the training given to them.”

On the clashes between herders and farmers in Nigeria, Buhari said: “The Nigerian herdsman never carried anything more than a stick and occasionally a machete, to cut down foliage and give to their animals.

“These ones are carrying AK 47. So, I don’t think people should underrate what happened in Libya, 43 years of Gadaffi. People were recruited from the Sahel.

“They were taught nothing other than shoot and kill. With the demise of Gadaffi, they moved to their countries and their regions and they carried away with them, the only experience they have and training using weapons. And that is what is aggravating the situation.”

He also said: “We are doing our best to ensure that we stop cross-border (crime) and so on, and to get the proliferation of small arms in the region checked. But it is going to take time.

“And the action by the United States in trying to see the end of ISIS has helped us a lot, because Boko Haram in Nigeria, at one time, made a statement that they were loyal to ISIS.

“And now that ISIS has virtually gone, with the help of the United States, we are very grateful for that. And we are sure that we are stabilising the situation of security in Nigeria.”

On what his government is doing to rescue the girls still being held by Boko Haram, Buhari said: “‎The Chibok girls were before we came in 2014. We have only a number of them. We recovered about 30 of them. But the Dapchi ones, they were 106 that were kidnapped.

“We got 100 back, four died. One is still held in captivity, and we are very grateful for the United Nations that is acting between the kidnappers and us and haven’t given up. We are trying to get everybody back to join their families and their schools.”

Credit: Guardian report.

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