Obama backs Nigerian leader′s agenda against Boko Haram | News | DW.COM

The US and other G7 countries had promised to assist Nigeria discover the money – if the country could provide evidence that it had been stolen from the country.

So with a president yet to named a single person to handle his financial and economic matters after more than two months in office, what has he achieved from this trip?

Rights groups say atrocities have been committed both by Boko Haram and the Nigerian military.

Following Buhari’s win, he stopped to talk to the families of the missing school girls and pledged his support to finding out what happened to their daughters.

He said the nation had started seeing a degrading of Boko Haram’s capabilities as a fighting force.

Buhari has said his priorities are strengthening Nigeria’s economy, hard-hit by the fall in oil prices, boosting investment, and tackling “the biggest monster of all” – corruption. Nigeria actually is in the western part of the continent; the White House said Obama misspoke.

Jonathan had clashed with the Obama administration over Boko Haram and military assistance.

President Obama on Monday praised new Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari for his “very clear agenda” of taking down Boko Haram, a sign that the two countries may be able to work more effectively together than the U.S. did with Nigeria’s prior leader.

He also wrote that he was seeking US assistance in “locating and returning $150 billion in funds stolen in the past decade and held in foreign bank accounts on behalf of former, corrupt officials”.

The Buhari meeting opened a week devoted largely to Africa issues.

President Barrack Obama on Monday in White House, United States passed a vote of confidence on the visiting Nigerian president, Mohammadu Buhari, he came into office with a clear and defined agenda.

Buhari will also address Nigerian Youths in the United States at the Chancery, as well as participate in a town hall meeting with Nigerians in Diaspora.

A key factor may be that the United States views East Africa overall as more important strategically than West Africa. It will not affect the functioning of the country, but it’s a very important element in establishing new strategies and approaches, especially to dealing with Boko Haram.

He said the shift of resources and command directly to the front line, in addition to the replacement of the head of the State Security Services, and a new emphasis on working in partnership with Nigeria’s neighbours, had equipped his government to take the fight directly to Boko Haram. Lew and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, will have a chance to confer with Buhari.

Top U.S. trade and finance officials have met the Nigerian delegation, and Buhari was meeting Tuesday with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan, where he would be urging more American help against Boko Haram. “We are going to deny them receiving reinforcement in terms of equipment”, said Buhari, who studied 35 years ago at the U.S. Army War College.