US-Nigeria Relations: Security & economic issures top agenda for President Buhari's visit

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The United States and Nigeria share two top priorities: boosting trade and fighting terrorism. US Presidents Donald Trump and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari discussed both at the White House. Not on the agenda - derogatory language Trump reportedly used to describe African nations. CGTN's White House correspondent Nathan King reports.

Nigeria's president put the reported controversial comments about African nations aside:

MUHAMMADU BUHARI NIGERIAN PRESIDENT "I'm not sure about the validity or whether that allegation was true or not. The best thing for me is to keep quiet."

And focused on the joint fight with the US against terrorism.

MUHAMMADU BUHARI NIGERIAN PRESIDENT "We also congratulated the US on the strong role it played in the defeat of ISIS. Though, some of the remnants have found their way to the Sahel region."

Trump's approval of a 600 million-dollar arms sale to Nigeria, delayed under the Obama administration will also be combined with more anti-terror training for Nigerian forces to defer the scourge of Boko Haram and other terror groups.

DONALD TRUMP US PRESIDENT "Nigerian forces are currently leading regional efforts against ISIS in west Africa - and doing very well as we have. Nigeria is also leading African nations in the fight against Boko Haram - another ruthless jihadist group."

The US wants to invest more in Nigeria and is mulling infrastructure projects like railways- as is China - but the US President, always fixated on trade deficits and barriers urged Nigeria to open up to US investment.

DONALD TRUMP US PRESIDENT "We give Nigeria well over $1Billion in aid every year and we have started talking with the president about taking down the trade barriers - very substantial barriers to the United States trading with Nigeria. So we think we are owed that."

Closer Relations between the US and Nigeria, and Africa as a whole, may have been on the agenda but the US President went off script, too. President Buhari, ever respectful to his host, listened as Trump railed against US immigration laws and other subjects.

NATHAN KING WASHINGTON DC Africa policy has largely taken a back seat to the Middle East, Europe and Asia during the Trump administration's first year. This meeting did not appear to signal any change in priority status - to other African leaders who might be listening. Nathan King, CGTN, at the White House.