Buhari in America: Matters arising.

President Muhammadu Buhari is in the United States of America, USA, on an official visit. The US State Department said that the visit was on the invitation of President Barack Obama, Buhari’s American counterpart.

During the visit, Presidents Buhari and Obama will meet in Washington DC today, in an encounter designed to enhance the existing cordial relationship between Nigeria and the USA.

It would be recalled that high-profile official visits by Nigerian leaders to the USA started in 1961, when President John Fredrick Kennedy invited Nigeria’s Head of Government, the Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa. The visit lasted for a week and was full of activities. Both leaders discussed bilateral and “wide variety of subjects.”

President Buhari’s visit to the USA will also include the discussion of a wide variety of subjects, mainly anchored on three clear platforms: the Africa Growth Opportunity Act, AGOA, the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, TIFA and the Nigeria-US Bi-National Commission, BNC.

The President, just like Sir Tafawa-Balewa, is scheduled to visit some places of interest and symbolic significance. Such visits have always been symbolic. One of the key side activities would be his re-union with his US War College course mates of 1980. There was no indication he would visit an Islamic Centre as Tafawa-Balewa did during his official visit in 1961.

However, just like Tafawa-Balewa did in 1961, President Buhari will interact with Nigerians in the Diaspora. However, there is always a point of departure in such visits between one head of government and the other over time, as relations between countries continue but with changes that are inherent in the dynamism of life. In the Tafawa-Balewa/Buhari case, the main point of departure is that Nigeria and the US currently have at least three different platforms for the scheduled interactions between the delegations of the countries.

One of the major platforms is the Nigeria-US BNC, set up upon the signing of an agreement between both nations in April 2010. Mahmud Yayale Ahmed, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, signed on behalf of Nigeria. Former United States Secretary of States, Hillary R. Clinton, signed on behalf of the US government.

The Nigeria-US BNC has four main areas of focus. Each area of focus has a working group peopled by representatives of both sides. The focus areas and working groups, which have met several times in Nigeria and in the USA are Good Governance, Transparency and Integrity; Energy and Investment; Agriculture and Food Security and Niger Delta and Regional Security.

The Presidency has released the main areas for discussion with the US during President Buhari’s visit: security, the economy and America’s support for Buhari’s government’s efforts in tackling corruption. The Boko Haram menace will certainly be prominent in the security aspect of the bilateral discussions.

The four main working groups of the BNC have achieved some success in their assignments, including attracting American material contributions to our electoral system and the process of consolidating democracy; support for the Nigerian military in fighting terrorism; boosting agriculture and promoting reform in the sector and paving the way for some US companies to widen participation in our energy sector. The case of Symbion Power, a US power company, which won the bid for and took over Ughelli Power Plant, illustrates this success.

The second platform for intense engagement between Nigeria and the US is the TIFA, signed by the two countries. In a summary, the agreement provides for expanding trade and investments between the largest economy in the world and the biggest economy in Africa. It is largely driven by business people for the mutual understanding of the rules, regulations and areas of opportunities for trade and investment.

It is partly to underline the importance of the TIFA that President Buhari is scheduled to address the US Chamber of Commerce and Corporate Council for Africa in Washington DC. Some Nigerian business chieftains will be on hand to engage potential partners for trade and investments.

The third platform is AGOA. Under this Act, the US government encourages African countries to export manufactured goods on preferential terms. The idea is that the participating countries are to be supported and guided to penetrate the American market with their products based on their areas of comparative advantage.

The truth is that the manufacturing base of Nigeria is currently limping, but with a mixture of policies designed to revive the sector, it is possible for Nigeria to take full advantage of AGOA and benefit from its yields in the future.

The visit to the US by President Buhari has generated much interest and raised high expectations for quick and sharp results, especially in taming the monster of Boko Haram and opening economic opportunities for Nigeria’s teeming youths.

Overall, it is in the best of both countries that a mutually beneficial relation is deepened and sustained. And the visit of President Buhari is designed to achieve that, regardless of the fear being expressed in some quarters in Nigeria that, the US may try to influence Nigeria to change its strong stance against same-sex marriage.

•Dambatta, Director of Information in the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, writes from Abuja.