The United States has said there were no plans to build its military base in Nigeria, as claimed in some quarters of the West African country.
The US, however, said it would continue in its efforts to partner with Nigeria in providing security for the people of the country.
David Greene, US chargé d’affaires in Nigeria, revealed this while reacting to the purported reports that the US and French governments were lobbying with the federal government to build their bases in the country.
Recall that some Northern leaders claimed that the two super powers wanted to sign new defence deals with the most populous African country to allow them to redeploy their expelled troops from the Sahel.
In a letter to President Bola Tinubu, the northern leaders warned that the presence of foreign military bases would worsen already strained relations between Nigeria and neighbouring French countries.
The northern leaders urged the president to prioritise the nation’s security over “short-term strategic alignments”.
However, Greene, in an interview with TVC on Tuesday, said the reports were not true and that he did not know where they were coming from.
“I am not aware of any such conversation, and I am not really sure whose purpose it serves to agitate on this point,” Greene said.
“We will continue our very strong security cooperation with the Nigerian security services, the Nigerian military, and the Nigerian government, and that will always be in a spirit of partnership and respect for each other.”
Greene also said the US government prioritises its strategic investments in Nigeria to improve the health and humanitarian sectors.
“There is an assistance agreement that covers five years for about $2.5 billion, but we add money to it as it becomes available, and one of the areas where we have added a lot of money in recent years has been on the humanitarian assistance side,” he said.
He added, “That has reached almost $300 million a year out of that billion, but it varies. Some years it is 900 million, sometimes it is 1.2 billion, but it is an awful lot, and we are very proud of the cooperation that we pursue through it”.
