US secretary of state meets top officials in Nigeria

By Ibrahim Garba Shuaibu

KANO, Nigeria (AA) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was received by top Nigerian officials on Thursday during the second stop on his multinational Africa tour.

After arriving in the capital Abuja, Blinken held a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa.

Blinken and Osinbajo signed a series of agreements between the US and Nigeria during their meeting.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama who joined the talks, Blinken said the US would work closely with Nigeria to provide support in the areas of coronavirus vaccines, as well as military affairs and trade.

He also condemned attacks against protesters on Wednesday by the Sudanese military.

For his part, Onyeama said Nigeria had been seeking US support on the transfer of intellectual property rights and technology required for the production of COVID-19 vaccines in the country.

He also said the Nigerian government was working to create and foster greater market access with the US to ease exports of Nigerian agricultural products to the US market.

Onyeama revealed that climate change was also part of issues that Osinbajo had discussed with Blinken.