Biden has high admiration for Tinubu and has asked to meet with him – US envoy

President Joe Biden of the United States has extended an offer to his Nigerian counterpart, President Bola Tinubu, to meet at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) next month.

Ambassador Molly Phee, a U.S. Presidential Envoy and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, delivered Biden’s invitation.

On Saturday, August 26, 2023, Ambassador Phee presented the message to Tinubu during a meeting at the State House in Abuja.

The Special Envoy expressed the United States’ support for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) position on the political turmoil in Niger Republic.

While expressing the Biden administration’s admiration for Tinubu, Phee stated that the US President has given an exclusive invitation to see the Nigerian President on the margins of the UNGA in New York in late September to push negotiations further.

“We recognise that there is more we can do to encourage large-scale American investment in Nigeria, and we are committed to working closely with you to do so as part of efforts to strengthen the Nigerian and regional economies.”

“We appreciate your willingness to foster such an environment.” President Joe Biden has sought a meeting with you on the margins of the UNGA, and you are the only African leader he has asked to meet with. It demonstrates his admiration for your leadership,” remarked the US Special Envoy.

Tinubu, for his part, gladly accepted Biden’s invitation, noting that the task of improving democracy is never done, even in affluent countries, as shown recently in America and other rising democracies.

The President also charged the United States’ special envoy with strengthening collaboration and defending democracy in West Africa.

Tinubu also instructed Ambassador Phee to guarantee that the United States’ policy is consciously collaborative with independent African democracies at a time when they are under attack from anti-democratic elements both within and beyond the continent.