President Bola Tinubu has constituted a fresh delegation to the U.S.-Nigeria joint working group to seek collaboration with President Donald Trump’s administration over Nigeria’s security challenges.
Malam Nuhu Ribadu, National Security Adviser (NSA), will lead Nigeria’s comprising the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar, Minister of Defence, Abubakar Badaru, and Minister of Interior, and Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
Others are Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Bernard Doro, Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Olufemi Oluyede, Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Amb. Mohammed Mohammed, and Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
Presidential spokesperson, Mr Bayo Onanuga, announced this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.
The development followed recent high-level engagements in Washington, D.C., led by the NSA.
Ms Idayat Hassan, an official in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and Mr Paul Alabi of the Embassy of Nigeria in the U.S. will serve as the secretariat.
Tinubu urged the team to work closely with their U.S. counterparts to ensure the seamless implementation of all agreed areas of cooperation.
The move comes after the United States, under President Donald Trump, designated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” and threatened to send U.S. troops to wipe out terrorists in Nigeria over President Tinubu’s alleged failure to address persecution of Christians in the country.
Last week, Ribadu’s delegation met with top officials of Trump’s government, including Pete Hegseth, Secretary of War, and Congressman Riley Moore, whom Trump directed to investigate the situation in Nigeria and report back to him.
But Trump has continued his attack against the Tinubu administration, calling Nigeria “a disgrace” over worsening insecurity and continued killing of citizens.
“I think Nigeria is a disgrace. The whole thing is a disgrace. They’re killing people by the thousands. It’s a genocide. And I’m really angry about it. And we pay, you know, we give a lot of subsidy to Nigeria which we’re going to end up stopping,” Trump told Fox News Radio’s ‘The Brian Kilmeade Show’ on Friday.
“The government’s done nothing. They are very ineffective. They’re killing Christians at will. And you know until I got involved in it two weeks ago — nobody even talked about it.”
Meanwhile, President Tinubu has also nominated non-career ambassadors to the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.
Ayodele Oke, a former Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), was named ambassador to the United States on Wednesday, pending Senate screening and confirmation.