During his recent visit to Nigeria, Secretary of State Antony Blinken agreed with Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that “Africa is nothing less than the key to the world’s future.” “We share that conviction,” he said.
Today, the United States remains committed to working with African partners to strengthen and improve their stability, security and prosperity. We are particularly focused on Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and democracy, and our partner of six decades. That’s because a secure, democratic, healthy, and prosperous Nigeria is good not only for Nigerians and for the United States, but for all of Africa, and the world.
The United States and Nigeria share a range of common priorities, including our focus on accelerating economic growth and opportunity in Nigeria, said Secretary Blinken. For example, there is a great deal of interest in Nigeria’s technology sector.
“American entrepreneurs, American companies are eager to partner with and invest in Nigeria’s economy, particularly in the tech sector. We have tech giants that are teamed up with Nigerian partners to help meet President Tinubu’s one-million-digital-jobs initiative,” he said. “Other companies are hard at work laying undersea cables, using satellite technology to expand access to the internet. Our tech incubators are fostering Nigeria’s next startups. Our venture capital companies are working to finance them.”
Furthermore, “We’re working and collaborating to support the development and use of artificial intelligence for good,” said Secretary Blinken. “With 30 other Atlantic countries, we’re driving blue economic development, environmental protection, science and technology exchange through a new partnership for Atlantic cooperation.”
“We want to work in partnership to help drive Nigeria’s technological revolution, which is creating jobs, it’s growing businesses, and it’s spurring innovations in both of our countries, because one of the things we’ve learned from these partnerships is that it benefits us as much as any place or any company that we’re investing in. We’re learning a lot from it; we’re getting a lot from it.”
“This is an incredibly dynamic and consequential time for our partnership,” said Secretary Blinken. “Africa has shaped our past; it is shaping the present; it will shape our future. The United States is committed to strengthening genuine partnerships on the continent, to work to solve shared challenges, and also to deliver on the promise and the fundamental aspirations of our peoples.”
