The visit to Nigeria of US Assistant Secretary of State, Johnnie Carson, provides Nigeria with perhaps a unique access to President Barack Obama’s ears, according to a former senior Nigerian diplomat who once served in Washington. The US embassy in Abuja has described the visit as follow up to the visit in August last year of Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, and that Carson will meet with senior government officials and leaders of civil society on a broad array of issues of common interest.
Ahead of his departure for Nigeria, Carson said, “Our friendship and relationship with Nigeria has not changed. We thank Nigerians for their well wishes since the December 25 attempted attack, and as good bilateral partners we will work together against global threats such as this to the citizens of both our countries.”
Lagos State government officials confirmed to BusinessDay that Carson met on Saturday night with Governor Babatunde Fashola and this meeting appears to underscore the desire of the Obama administration to identify and support shinning examples of good governance in Nigeria.
Carson’s attention shifted to the oil industry on Sunday morning when he met with top executives of US oil companies operating in Nigeria. It has also emerged that Shell officials were also in attendance at the meeting, which was held in Lagos.
The former Nigerian diplomat, who spoke with BusinessDay on condition of anonymity, said he expects that Carson’s visit will help bring about an improvement in relations, which suffered in the aftermath of the listing of Nigeria as a country of interest following the December 25 incident.
“So much has been said in the local press about how Nigeria is no longer relevant to the US. I am not exactly sure if that is the official US position. Nigeria will continue to occupy a key place in US foreign policy. It is true that as a partner we have not lived up to expectation, but that is exactly why I think Carson has come, to reset the button and start the process of rebuilding the relations,” the former diplomat said.
It is unclear if the visit was timed to coincide with last weekend’s crucial election in Anambra State given that the embassy statement said Carson would also focus on efforts to improve governance and elections.
Carson comes with a good understanding of Nigeria having served in Lagos between 1969 and 1971 as a junior staff officer during a 37-year diplomatic career that has taken him to several key African countries and also served as staff director for the African subcommittee of the US House of Representatives.
Prior to being appointed assistant secretary of state, Carson was the national intelligence officer for Africa at the NIC following his service as senior vice president of the National Defence University in Washington.