Bush and Yar'Adua to hold White House talks

By Charles W. Corey
USINFO Staff Writer

Washington -- The visit of Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua to the White House December 13 represents the beginning of a “new relationship” that will signal closer bilateral relations between Nigeria and the United States on a broad range of important issues.

Previewing the visit, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Todd J. Moss considered the U.S.-Nigeria relationship in a December 10 interview with USINFO.

“Because of the problems” that surrounded Nigeria’s recent presidential election, Moss said, “there was a pause in our close relationship.”

The U.S.-Nigeria relationship had been “very strong” under the previous Obasanjo government, which ran from 1999 until early 2007, he said, but the elections of April 2007, which brought Yar’Adua into office, were “deeply flawed.”

The conduct of those elections, he said, “gave us some serious pause as to how close we could be. We expressed our concerns with the Nigerians … and we set some very clear expectations. I am happy to say that, so far, those expectations have been met.”

Moss said the expectations included allowing the electoral tribunals that are reviewing the elections “to move forward unimpeded by politics.” As a direct result, he said, “we have already seen several governorships overturned. We have seen no evidence of political interference from the [presidential] villa in these tribunals or in the judicial process. We think that is moving forward in a very positive way. We want to continue to see that play out.”

Moss said the United States and Nigeria are having a series of reciprocal visits and that Yar’Adua’s White House visit is part of that process.

“President Yar’Adua was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly meetings. [Deputy Secretary of State] John Negroponte and [Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs] Jendayi Frazer were just in Abuja, and now President Yar’Adua has been invited into the White House. We think that this represents the beginning of our new relationship, which will signal closer relations in a host of issues that we have of mutual interest.”

Looking ahead, Moss said Nigeria is “clearly going to have to fix its broken electoral system for the next cycle.”

As part of that process, he said, “a very substantial and credible electoral reform panel has been established. They are just beginning their work, but given the makeup of the panel, who has been put on there, it is not whitewash -- it is actually a very serious group.” Moss said the United States is “extremely pleased to see that, and we will be watching closely the outcome of their work.”

Moss said that Yar’Adua, in coming to power, “has recognized that his legitimacy was potentially in doubt.” The Nigerian leader “has ruled so far in a way that has been very inclusive and in a way that we think has been very productive for rebuilding the legitimacy of the government. He has also made it very clear that if the tribunals rule against him, that he will stand down.”

One of the governors who have been overturned is Yar’Adua’s son-in-law, Moss explained, but despite that development the United States has no evidence that the president did anything to stop the action from taking place. “He allowed that to go forward, so I think he has really shown that he is trying to respect the checks and balances of the Nigerian system and to allow the judicial process to go forward without interference from the executive,” Moss said.

While working closely with the Nigerians on many fronts, he said, the United States will continue to look for progress in three key areas: the continued battle against corruption; government budget issues, which includes a continuing and deepening of economic reforms pushed down to the state level; and, most importantly, the Niger Delta.

“Nigeria needs to deal with the problems in the Niger Delta,” Moss stressed. “There have been some very positive signs that President Yar’Adua understands how important the Delta is and is taking steps to deal with that, but we want to see that it is more than just a series of ad hoc measures -- that there is a real strategy there to stabilize and begin to promote development there in the Delta. We are willing to help them with that where possible,” he pledged.

Moss said Sudan and Somalia also are expected to be discussed at the White House meeting, mainly in the context of peacekeeping contributions and “getting the peacekeepers on the ground” in both areas.

Moss called Nigeria “an absolutely pivotal nation for the future of West Africa and the future of Africa. The United States has to have a relationship with Nigeria.

“We have too many crosscutting issues of mutual interest for us to not have a robust relationship with them. Of course, this includes energy security, but it is much bigger than that.

“Nigeria is the lynchpin of African peacekeeping. They are the key players in regional security, and Nigeria is an important partner for the U.S. for a whole range of transnational threats … terrorism, narcotics trafficking, international disease. We need to work with the Nigerians to tackle these threats,” Moss said.

(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)