Jeffrey Hawkins, US consul general, said that the US government has invested a total sum of $5 million to strengthen the Nigerian private sector and to also encourage the privatization of the energy sector.
Hawkins said that the US-Nigeria Bi-National Commission is an opportunity to talk things through between the two countries and also to strengthen the ties that have already been established.
He made this disclosure while speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily adding that “The idea is to address some of the key problems in Nigeria, five of these have topped the list, we have regional security, transparency and democracy in government, energy and investment, agriculture and food security and the Niger delta region”.
He said that America has so much at stake in Nigeria, as Nigeria is the 2nd largest investment destination in Africa and Nigeria’s success is tied to America’s.
The counsel general added that 3 million dollars has been spent every year to assist law enforcement agencies like EFCC and NDLEA.
Hawkins maintained that Nigeria is very important to the USA and whether the president makes a stop at Nigeria on his African visits or not is not important to the relationship they have already established.
He concluded by saying “It’s really important to welcome Nigerian visitors to the united states and a lot of efforts have been put into making visa application easy, there are about 7,000 Nigerian students in America and it helps facilitate the relationship between the two countries”.