Jonathan to meet Obama in New York

Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan and US President, Barack Obama, will meet in Washington DC on the sideline of the UN General Assembly holding in September in New York.

US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Wendy Sherman, disclosed this in an interview with State House Correspondents shortly after a closed door meeting with Jonathan in Abuja.


Sherman, who led a delegation to the US-Nigeria Bi-national Commission meeting starting Thursday, said she was in the Villa to deliver a letter from Obama to Jonathan.

“I have given him a letter from President Obama and he was gracious enough to accept it and we look forward to working further on the basis of the letter.

“Our presidents will likely meet soon. I will leave that announcement to the President of the United States and the President of Nigeria’’, she said.

Sherman said that “Nigeria is a very important country, not only here on the continent but around the world.’’

She said besides serving on the Security Council of the UN, which it is likely to do so again in future, Nigeria chairs Committee on Democracy.

The under-secretary reiterated the pivotal role of Nigeria in the ECOWAS and in peace-keeping missions all around the world.

She said the US-Nigeria bi-national commission “is really an invaluable tool for the two countries to work together for a strong relationship between them.’’

Sherman said the commission would support Nigeria “as it moves forward to meet all the challenges before it.’’

She stated that the issues before the commission ranged from security to governance, education and agriculture