Truump Welcomes Buhari, Urges Nigeria Leader To Remove Barriers To US Trade

LAGOS MAY 1ST (NEWSRANGERS)-President Trump said Monday that he urged Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, to remove trade barriers to allow additional US investment in the African nation.
Trump noted that the United States sends more than $1 billion in foreign aid annually to Nigeria and said it should get something in return.
‘‘We think that we are owed that,’’ Trump said at a joint White House news conference with Buhari, the first African leader to visit him at the White House.
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Trump said the United States ‘‘will be investing substantially in Nigeria if they can create that level playing field.’’
Trump and Buhari held talks earlier Monday that also focused on security issues.
The Nigerian president’s visit followed an uncomfortable start to the Trump administration’s approach to the world’s second-most-populous continent.
Trump stirred anger in Nigeria last year after reports that he said during an Oval Office meeting that Nigerians wouldn’t want to go home to their ‘‘huts’’ if they were permitted to visit the United States.
Nigeria was among the African nations that summoned the US ambassador to explain Trump’s comments that he wanted less immigration from ‘‘shithole’’ countries in Africa and more from places like Norway. Trump denied using the vulgar term, but others who were present said he used that language.
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Asked whether he and Buhari had discussed the remark, Trump said they had not.
‘‘You do have some countries that are in very bad shape and very tough places to live in,’’ Trump told Buhari. “But we didn’t discuss it because the president knows me and he knows where I’m coming from.’’
Buhari deflected, saying he was unsure about ‘‘whether that allegation against the president was true or not.’’
‘‘So the best thing for me is to keep quiet.’’ he added.
Buhari thanked the United States for its commitment to fighting terrorism and says American action has helped his country a lot.
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Boko Haram launched a violent insurgency in the Nigerian northeast nine years ago with the aim of creating an Islamic state. Thousands of people have been killed.
Mass abductions of schoolgirls brought Boko Haram international notoriety and one faction has declared allegiance to the Islamic State.
In a separate development Monday, the UN said 10 aid workers had been released after being abducted in South Sudan almost a week ago.
Three UN staff and seven aid workers, all South Sudanese nationals, vanished last week when their convoy traveling in Central Equatoria province was hijacked.
The aid workers were flown back to Juba by the International Committee of the Red Cross. The workers are employed by a variety of organizations, including the South Sudanese Development Organization, Plan International, and Action Africa Help.
This is the second kidnapping of aid workers in less than a month. Seven were abducted earlier this month and later released in the same area.
The UN says it’s ‘‘outraged’’ at the deteriorating situation for aid workers in the country. Last week a humanitarian was killed in Leer County, bringing to 100 the number of aid workers killed since the onset of South Sudan’s five-year civil war.
‘‘I am deeply concerned by the insecurity faced by aid workers in South Sudan, who are risking their lives to save others,’’ said the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, Alain Noudehou.
Opposition forces loyal to former vice president Riek Machar have claimed responsibility for the most recent abductions saying that the UN is sending humanitarians into rebel-controlled areas without clearance.
‘‘This is undermining the leadership of the [opposition] and it has to stop immediately as it has resulted into misunderstandings and endangering of lives of the workers and our displaced population,’’ said opposition spokesman Lam Paul Gabriel.
The opposition’s leadership found out about the detained aid workers two days ago and immediately ordered their release, Gabriel said.
But the UN says it never enters into an area to deliver aid until negotiations with all parties are completed.
South Sudan’s government says the opposition is executing a ‘‘mass starvation’’ strategy for people in the Equatoria region and wants rebel commanders to be held to account by the East African regional bloc leading the upcoming peace talks, said Lul Ruai Koang, a spokesman for the government’s army.
He added that the opposition should also be condemned by Norway, Britain, and the United States, countries that helped South Sudan reach independence.
Right groups are calling on all warring factions to stop targeting aid workers and for South Sudan’s authorities to investigate the attacks and hold those responsible to account.

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