Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was in Nigeria Nov 18, where he met with President Muhammadu Buhari, and later signed a $2.1 billion aid package, the USAID’s Development Objectives Assistance Agreement (DOAA, previously announced in August). In the several meetings surrounding the event Nigerian leaders were speaking with one voice: We have a right to develop our resources!
Nigeria, under attack by spreading jihadist terrorism and separatist movements (and more recently Mark Carney’s Financial Reset), rightly sees economic collapse at the base of the problem, and economic development as the solution, while the US is pushing in the direction of Permanent War and Green “Investment.” In addition to the $2.1 billion, “development” funding, Blinken also brought with him the news that Nigeria had been removed from the list of religious persecutors, a little sugar he thought might make the bitter pill easier to swallow. Nigerians weren’t having any of it.
In his meeting with the President, Buhari turned the question of terrorism to one of lack of development, including a reference to “inter-basin “ water transfer, a clear reference to the TransAqua project, of which Buhari is a big supporter. In comments reported by the News Agency of Nigeria, reprinted in the Premium Times, the President said, “Inter-basin water transfer is needed to keep the youths at home, [so] they can resume their lives of farming, fishing, and animal husbandry.”
At the signing of the DOAA, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo referred to Buhari’s similar comments two weeks ago in Glasgow, further noting that, “no industrialized nation has yet been able to prove that it was able to industrialize using renewable energy alone.” Pointing to the obvious hypocrisy in the demands for climate austerity, the Vice President continued, “If developing countries are called upon to rely on renewable energy, especially for industrialization, that will be calling for a sea change in the way that this has been done and historically shown to be possible.”
Osinbajo said, “I think that we should really look at how to ensure [that] public investment goes on, especially for gas, because really it remains the way by which we can improve access to electricity, which is a problem that developing countries have, [which is] so closely tied to poverty and extreme poverty.”
Finally, at a press availability after the signing event, Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama continued on the theme of resource development, getting to the core of the disagreement. “Nigeria is ... more of a gas-producing country than actually an oil-producing country,” Onyeamna said. “We’re looking to gas to help to address our energy needs.” Alluding to Mark Carney’s anti-development decrees in Glasgow, the Minister continued, “We noticed that a number of the big industrialized countries and financial institutions are now defunding projects and gas projects, and of course this would really be a huge blow for countries such as ours that really want to see gas as a transition fuel,” further asking the US to support the effort “of these countries that need this transition period to use these fuels.” [all emphasis added]
Buhari comments: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/496105-buhari-hosts-u-s-secretary-of-state-speaks-on-nigerias-removal-from-religious-watchlist.html
Onyeama comments: https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-and-nigerian-foreign-minister-geoffrey-onyeama-at-a-joint-press-availability/