U.S. Urges Nigeria Govt To Protect Civil Population

The United States has urged the Nigerian government to do more to protect its civilians, including religious communities and the humanitarian organisations seeking to assist them.

U.S. secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said this during the US-Nigeria Binational Commission (BNC) meeting in Washington.

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Pompeo in a joint media briefing with Nigeria’s minister of foreign affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, also said that in a bid to help the country ease its humanitarian crisis the U.S. has donated additional $40m to the $350 million provided in 2019.

The development comes four days after the US imposed an immigrant visa ban on Nigeria.

Noting that the fight against insurgency is “hard and complicated Pompeo said the U.S. would hold Nigeria accountable for its pledge to respect human rights.

“The foreign minister and I just completed a very productive conversation on how to continue to strengthen the economic and security ties between our two nations. This is a real priority for us in the Trump administration in Africa, because Nigeria is Africa’s most populous democracy and its largest economy.”

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“In part due to this terrorism threat, on Friday, President Trump announced the suspension of immigrant visas for Nigerians because Nigeria has room to grow in sharing important national security information.

“I am optimistic that’s going to happen. In the proclamation, President Trump highlighted Nigeria’s importance as a strategic partner in the global fight against terrorism and recognised the government’s commitment to improving information sharing with us,” Pompeo said.

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