The United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has arrived at the Presidential Villa for an official visit to President Bola Tinubu.
Blinken is in Nigeria as part of his tour to the West African sub-region.
He had stopped over at Cape Verde and Cote d’voire before arriving in Nigeria and is expected to leave for Angola from here.
Also receiving him with President Tinubu are the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, the Minister of Information, Mohammed Yusuf, and other top government officials.
The State Department on Thursday, January 18, announced that Blinken will go to Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Angola starting from Sunday, January 21, for talks focused on regional security, conflict prevention, democracy promotion and trade.
Nigeria is West Africa’s regional heavyweight and plays a major role in security issues, especially those involving Islamic extremist violence in the Sahel, the vast arid expanse south of the Sahara Desert.
The trip will be Blinken’s third overseas mission in the new year 2024.
He returned from a Gaza-focused, weeklong 10-nation trip to the Middle East recently and a three-day trip to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland also.
Blinken’s Africa trip is coming as the United States is increasingly nervous about its relationships on the continent, particularly after coups of 2023 in Niger and Gabon, and escalating unrest in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The US Secretary of State will highlight the administration’s partnership with African nation on issues such as the climate, economic investment, food and health, State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller said in a statement.
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