Mr. President of the United States of America, ladies and gentlemen of the media, it has been a pleasure and honour to visit Washington, D.C., at the kind invitation of President Donald Trump. Nigeria and the United States share a long history of close and cordial relations, which encompass political, economic, military, social and cultural cooperation.
Our two countries maintain a strategic partnership for peace and security, conflict resolution as well as a global fight against terrorism. We also share common futures as secular federal states, practicing a similar democratic model of governance and committed to the universal values of fundamental human rights and freedoms, free enterprise, social justice and the rule of law.
President Trump and his team and myself and the Nigerian team discussed issues related to security, trade, governance, human rights and humanitarian crises.
We congratulated the leaders of the North and South Korea on their historic summit, and we applaud them for the positive commitment they have made towards denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. President Trump deserves a great deal of credit for his statesmanlike role in transforming so dramatically the course of events in that region.
We also congratulated the United States government on the important role it played in the defeat of ISIS, although some of the remnants have found their way to the Sahel region.
We recognise the strong United States support in our fight against terrorism, and also appreciated very much the United States agreement to sell 12 Super Tucano A-29 warplanes and weapons to Nigeria to effectively fight terrorism.
To contain the spate of insurgency in Nigeria, the Federal Government has adopted a monthly sectorial approach involving related government agencies to address the social, economic and political dimensions, while the armed forces of Nigeria assist the (inaudible) authority to provide security and maintain law and order.
As part of efforts to address emergent cases of insurgency in the country, the Nigerian military adopted counterterrorism insurgency approach codenamed Operation Safe Corridor to de-radicalise, rehabilitate and reintegrate willingly surrendered Boko Haram members into the larger society.
This programme is currently embarking on a number of projects, including secure operation centers and integrative farms comprising poultry, fish pond and greenhouse farming, among others.
A number of international partners, including International Organisation for Migration (IOM), have contributed to the success of the Operation Safe Corridor. We indicated that we will appreciate whatever support we could also get from the United States.
We express gratitude to the United States support in the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in the Northeast, as well as humanitarian assistance to the internally displaced persons through agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other international partners.
The United States of America has been to date the biggest contributor to the humanitarian response, and last year gave approximately half a billion United States dollars in cash and in kind contribution through the United Nations and other inter-governmental organisations. This mainly supported protection activities, health, food assistance and shelter.
We are doing all we can to secure the release of the remaining abducted school girls from Dapchi and Chibok. In this context, we will continue to welcome United States collaboration in intelligence gathering, hostage negotiations and information sharing.
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