The United States will offer to help Nigeria’s new leader
track down billions of dollars in stolen assets and increase US military
assistance to fight Islamic militants, US officials said, as Washington seeks
to reset ties with Africa’s biggest economy.
The visit to Washington by President Muhammadu Buhari is
viewed by the US administration as a chance to set the seal on improving ties
since he won a March election, hailed as Nigeria’s first democratic power
transition in decades.
US cooperation with Buhari’s predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan,
had virtually ground to a halt over issues, including his refusal to
investigate corruption and human rights abuses by the Nigerian military.
The improving ties with Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil
producer, came as US relations have cooled with two other traditional African
powers – Egypt and South Africa.
US officials have said they were willing to send military
trainers to help Nigeria counter a six-year-old northern insurgency by the Boko
Haram Islamist movement.
Since Buhari’s election, Washington has committed $5m in new
support to a multi-national task force set up to fight the group. This is in
addition to at least $34m it is providing for Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger
for equipment and logistics.
Buhari’s move on July 13 to fire military chiefs appointed
by Jonathan cleared the way for more military cooperation, US officials said.