President Joe Biden of the United States of America (USA) Tuesday called President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to express his gratitude for Nigeria’s partnership, particularly regarding law enforcement and the recent release of Head of Finance Crime Compliance at Binance, Tigran Gambaryan.
The 30-minute conversation also focused on enhancing bilateral cooperation, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Yusuf Tuggar told State House correspondents after the meeting.
He said the two leaders also discussed Nigeria’s potential permanent seat on the United Nations (UN) Security Council, with President Biden affirming that “there’s no reason why one of those seats shouldn’t belong to Nigeria”
The minister said:“The call was about the collaboration between the two countries with regards to law enforcement and law enforcement agencies as well as the release of one of the suspects of the crypto currency exchange company that you are all aware of.
“Mr President also thanked the US for the partnership and collaboration in numerous areas with regards to security in Africa and West Africa as as whole. President Biden assured President Tinubu that this is a partnership because the future of the world reside in Africa and as such, the partnership is important.
“The leaders also discussed the issue of permanent seat in the United Nations security Council and Biden assured the the united States is committed to seeing Africa having a permanent seat and does not see why one of those seats should belong to Nigeria.”
The minister said during the conversation, President Tinubu emphasised Nigeria’s commitment to the rule of law, stating, “Nigeria is a law-abiding country guided by due process.”
He said the president noted the similarities between Nigeria’s government system and that of the United States which was adopted after returning to civilian rule in 1999. “Our systems reflect a shared commitment to democracy,” he said.
He said the two leaders also reaffirmed their intention to collaborate on various fronts, with President Tinubu asserting that the nations would continue to work together to address global challenges.
Asked if the charges against the Binance executive has been dropped with President Biden’s called to expressed his gratitude, the minister said: “Certainly, there was a situation were gratitude was expressed but again, remember I said we have processes, we are a country that is guided by the rule of law and due process, that is what transpired.
“Of course there were diplomatic exchanges also and discuss that resulted in resolving that but it was not purely that, it was also Nigeria following due process and abiding by the rule of law.”
On if the conversation around partnership between the two countries was in favour of Nigeria, the minister said: “Well, in terms of partnership, don’t forget that there’s a dimension of that which is the sharing of intelligence which is very vital, application of technology and of course equipment-kinetic and non-kinetic and training.
“Of course the United States is also a leader in the world today in artificial intelligence. I would say that there are the number one nation when it comes to artificial intelligence and it is evident that in the future a lot is going to rely on artificial intelligence.
“So the sooner we get into it the better and the United States has expressed interest in working with Nigeria on artificial intelligence.
“I believe if I heard it correctly, President Biden also alluded to the upcoming event that is coming up in lagos on artificial intelligence so will continue to collaborate in that regard.”
