{"id":113741,"date":"2018-04-26T10:47:38","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T08:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/buhari-and-trump-a-chance-to-reset-nigerias-relationship-with-the-us-the-conversation\/"},"modified":"2018-04-26T10:47:38","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T08:47:38","slug":"buhari-and-trump-a-chance-to-reset-nigerias-relationship-with-the-us-the-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/buhari-and-trump-a-chance-to-reset-nigerias-relationship-with-the-us-the-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"Buhari and Trump: a chance to reset Nigeria’s relationship with the US | The Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buhari and Trump: a chance to reset Nigeria’s relationship with the US<\/a>: <\/p>\n

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to meet Donald Trump in Washington.<\/span> Michael Reynolds\/EPA<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump next week. His visit comes less than four months since Trump made the comment about \u201cshithole\u201d countries in Africa. Trump\u2019s comments were followed by a swift denial and a lukewarm attempt to mend fences. <\/p>\n

But his lethargic attitude to the continent is undeniable. This was underscored by the fact that the president sacked former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson when he was on an African tour, forcing him to cut his trip short. Further evidence of his perceived indifference is the fact that he has not appointed substantive senior leadership within the state department to handle African affairs. As a result, his African policy is driven by a makeshift team that has shown no real desire to mediate Africa\u2019s strategic interests and aspirations. <\/p>\n

So how does Nigeria, one of Africa\u2019s largest economies, fit into America\u2019s unclear vision for the continent? With a population of more than 180 million people, Nigeria is an African power house. And because of its complex religious, ethnic and regional dynamics, it presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the US.<\/p>\n

The agenda<\/h2>\n

Perhaps Buhari\u2019s trip to Washington will be used to reset Nigeria-US relations, particularly after the fallout from Trump\u2019s shithole comment. The comment was particularly disturbing in Nigeria because over 700,000 Nigerians were found to be following Trump\u2019s tweets \u2013 that\u2019s more than 2% of his 32 million followers. This shows just how interested Nigerians are in the American president and his policies.<\/p>\n

The official line from the Trump administration is that Buhari\u2019s visit is an opportunity for the two leaders to discuss issues of mutual importance like economic growth, reforms and trade, terrorism, peace and security, and Nigeria\u2019s role as a leader in Africa.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also worth remembering that Nigeria remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Levels of corruption have even diluted the country\u2019s efforts in the war on terror. <\/p>\n

Nigeria has been unable to deal decisively with the Boko Haram menace despite buying military equipment worth millions of dollars from the US. Its inability to wipe out Boko Haram has destabilised the West African region and caused a widespread refugee crisis.<\/p>\n

Beyond the twin challenge of corruption and terrorism, Nigeria has been unable to fully benefit from America\u2019s special economic growth and development initiative, the African Growth and Opportunity Act. This is because of structural bottlenecks like insecurity, sluggish economic growth, weak local capacity, and infrastructural problems. <\/p>\n

The act gives selected sub-Saharan countries easier access, tax and duty free exports of selected products to the US market. But Nigeria\u2019s performance has been dismal. Buhari\u2019s wish list should therefore include support for private sector capacity building to meet international trade and export standards. <\/p>\n

It should also include enhanced security cooperation and support and increased foreign direct investment. <\/p>\n

Something else that could come up during Buhari\u2019s visit are the human rights violations by the Nigerian military in its campaign against Boko Haram. The violations stopped the Obama administration from fully committing to Nigerian military support.<\/p>\n

In fact, the lowest point in US-Nigeria relations came in 2014 when Nigeria cancelled a joint military exercise because the US refused to equip its military with helicopters. <\/p>\n

From \u201cshithole\u201d to \u201cdeep respect\u201d<\/h2>\n

Despite its challenges, Nigeria has long been a continental and regional power house that has supervised a vast security apparatus through the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Under Nigeria\u2019s stewardship ECOWAS ensured that the Gambian strong man Jammeh Yahya was forced to step down in favour of his challenger who had been validly elected. <\/p>\n

Nigeria\u2019s role in the Gambia proved that, while it has a lot of other problems, electoral injustice is not one of them. Successive administrations have respected the constitutional norms that require an incumbent to step down after fairly losing an election. This kind of democratic leadership is strategically important to the US. <\/p>\n

And as one of Africa\u2019s largest economies Nigeria can boost economic growth in the region. The country is in a strategic position to take advantage of Trump\u2019s promise to \u201cincrease free, fair and reciprocal trade\u201d with Africa. <\/p>\n

Finally, as Africa\u2019s largest oil and gas producer Nigeria could become an important ally in Trump\u2019s efforts to control the volatile oil prices fronted by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.<\/p>\n

Benefits to both parties<\/h2>\n

In the final analysis, what should Africa make of Buhari\u2019s visit to Washington? Is it a just reward for Nigeria\u2019s continental leadership, or a carefully choreographed opportunity to make Trump popular again? <\/p>\n

I argue that it is both. Despite claiming that he has a \u201cdeep respect\u201d for Africa, Trump is still believed to be indifferent towards the continent. <\/p>\n

This visit has the potential to reset the US-Nigeria dynamic. And at the end of the day, Buhari will have a White House photo op that will come in handy now that he intends to run for a second term.<\/p>\n

And Trump will have the opportunity to showcase his \u201cdeep respect\u201d for Africa.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

David E Kiwuwa does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Source:<\/strong> The Conversation \u2013 Articles (AFRICA)<\/a><\/small>
\n<\/p>\n

Read more on The Conversation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Join the fun:<\/strong> Add Your event<\/a> | Submit a Press Release<\/a> | Add your listing<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buhari and Trump: a chance to reset Nigeria’s relationship with the US: Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to meet Donald Trump in Washington. Michael Reynolds\/EPA Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump next week. His visit comes less than four months since Trump made the comment about \u201cshithole\u201d countries […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[20872,2327,8890,11405,11765,14692,8494],"class_list":{"0":"post-113741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-africa-news-2","7":"tag-buhari","8":"tag-chance","9":"tag-conversation","10":"tag-nigerias","11":"tag-relationship","12":"tag-reset","13":"tag-trump","14":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113741\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}