EDITORIAL
21 December 2007
Posted to the web 21 December 2007
Lagos
RECENTLY, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua of Nigeria went on a three-day visit to the United States of America. It was a visit which brought to the fore the nature and tenor of US-Nigeria relations.
It is not always appreciated that even though there is a contrast between the two countries, yet they have a number of features in common. In the first instance, Nigeria and the United States have between them two of the largest black populations in the world. Moreover, both are super-powers in their own right; with Nigeria as a regional super power, while the United States continues to play out on a wider canvass as a global super power.
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Also, Nigeria and the United States are locked together in the buyer-seller equation in the international oil market. On this last score it has been asserted that Nigeria is of importance to an energy-hungry US.
Taken together therefore, it is evident that there was a lot for the two presidents to talk about in the course of visit. And if the statements by the two leaders are anything to go by, it was clear that the issues discussed ranged from security through culture to trade diversification and human infrastructure development.
Apparently, the high point of these discussions centred on the US African military command (Africom). While the Americans naturally seek a visible presence on the continent through Africom; it is evident that Nigeria and by extension the African Union, seeks an Africom, which would not in anyway compromise the integrity and sovereignty of Nigeria and other African countries. It was therefore gratifying to note that President Yar'Adua reportedly stood his ground on this particular issue. This was evident in his refusal to endorse the presence of Africom on the continent Full Story
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