U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt M. Campbell and Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar co-chaired the sixth round of the U.S.-Nigeria Binational Commission (BNC) in Abuja on April 29-30, 2024. Established in 2010, the BNC is the premier platform of official engagement between the Governments of the United States and Nigeria to expand cooperation and advance shared goals and democratic values. This year’s BNC built on the strong foundation agreed during the January 23, 2024, meeting between President Bola Tinubu and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken in Abuja, as well as the momentum from the last BNC held in Washington, D.C. in February 2020.
This year’s BNC featured five working groups covering a range of issues to advance our mutual interests, reaffirming the robust bilateral cooperation enjoyed by the United States and Nigeria. The groups focused on the U.S.-Nigeria partnership in shared prosperity; security cooperation; democracy, governance and accountability; health; and movement of people.
Additionally, the BNC included four discussions on expanding our cooperation to identify solutions to improve outcomes in the areas of: cybercrime, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, food security, and growth in the digital economy and emerging technologies.
The U.S. delegation welcomed Foreign Minister Tuggar’s vision for the future of Nigeria’s foreign policy as laid out in his 4D doctrine of Democracy, Development, Demography, and Diaspora. The two sides discussed how U.S. assistance could augment Nigeria’s efforts in these areas. The U.S. delegation announced a visit of the President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement to Nigeria in July. The U.S. delegation also announced a major symposium in Washington, D.C. in October to bring together American and Nigerian technology leaders.
