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Nigeria’s acting president Goodluck Jonathan has left the shores of the country on his first foreign trip to the United States of America where he is expected to meet with US president Barrack Obama.
Jonathan’s fly to the United States was his first international trip since he took over two months ago from ailing President Umaru Yar’adua.
He is accompanied by the new Foreign Affairs Minister Odein Ajumogobia who also said that Jonathan will be in Washington to attend an international nuclear security summit and is expected to meet US President Barack Obama.
“We are making arrangements. We leave on Sunday morning or Saturday night,” Ajumogobia stated in Abuja before their departure to the US.
“The purpose of the visit is the nuclear summit. On the side of that summit, the acting president will have a chance to meet with President Obama and to discuss matters of bilateral interests,” he said.
Bilateral talks between the United States and Nigeria, its fifth largest source of oil, are expected to take place on the fringes of the summit.
However, Ajumogobia refused to disclose details of the bilateral agenda.
It was reported that Jonathan had earlier on Thursday met the father of the Nigerian would-be Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Alhaji Abdulmutallib. No details of the meeting between the two were released.
Jonathan has vowed that his new government will continue the policies of the ex-cabinet of President Yar’adua.
Nigeria’s acting president Goodluck Jonathan has left the shores of the country on his first foreign trip to the United States of America where he is expected to meet with US president Barrack Obama.
Jonathan’s fly to the United States was his first international trip since he took over two months ago from ailing President Umaru Yar’adua.
He is accompanied by the new Foreign Affairs Minister Odein Ajumogobia who also said that Jonathan will be in Washington to attend an international nuclear security summit and is expected to meet US President Barack Obama.
“We are making arrangements. We leave on Sunday morning or Saturday night,” Ajumogobia stated in Abuja before their departure to the US.
“The purpose of the visit is the nuclear summit. On the side of that summit, the acting president will have a chance to meet with President Obama and to discuss matters of bilateral interests,” he said.
Bilateral talks between the United States and Nigeria, its fifth largest source of oil, are expected to take place on the fringes of the summit.
However, Ajumogobia refused to disclose details of the bilateral agenda.
It was reported that Jonathan had earlier on Thursday met the father of the Nigerian would-be Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Alhaji Abdulmutallib. No details of the meeting between the two were released.
Jonathan has vowed that his new government will continue the policies of the ex-cabinet of President Yar’adua.
