The President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, has extended an invitation for discussion to President Bola Tinubu. According to a statement by the Special Media Adviser to President Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, the US Presidential Envoy & Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Molly Phee, disclosed this when he visited the Nigerian leader on Saturday.
Phee was quoted to have told President Tinubu that President Biden has requested to meet him on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City to advance discussions further in late September. The American envoy noted that Tinubu is the only African leader the US President has honoured with such invitation. “We know there is more we can do to incentivize large-scale American investment in Nigeria and we are committed to working closely with you to achieve that, as part of efforts to strengthen the Nigerian economy and the regional economy.
“We appreciate your willingness to create an enabling environment for that. President Joe Biden is asking to meet with you on the sidelines of UNGA and you are the only African leader he has requested to meet. It is a mark of his high regard for your leadership,” the U.S. Special Envoy said. Tinubu advised Phee to ensure that US policy is intentionally collaborative with independent African democracies at a time when they are under assault by anti-democratic forces within and outside of the continent.
The President noted that American-backed development finance and multilateral institutions, which were designed to support war-torn Europe after World War II, require swift and comprehensive reform to meet the developmental requirements of younger democracies in Africa, which operate in authoritarian-crowded environments, such that the legitimate yearnings of Africans would no longer be manipulated to serve the narrow aims of self-seeking demagogues through unconstitutional takeovers of power.
