The Federal Government has told the US that it will allow the system to exhaust itself by waiting for the pronouncements of state governments, which set up panels to probe police brutality in the country.
President Muhammadu Buhari stated this in Abuja, while receiving in audience the United States Secretary of State, Mr. Antony Blinken.
The President explained that state governments had set up many of such probe panels with different terms of reference, and that the federal government had no powers to dictate their lines of action.
President Buhari expressed Nigeria’s satisfaction regarding her removal from the United States’ watch-list of countries violating freedom of worship.
He emphasised that no one had been discriminated against on the basis of their faith.
He said education was a priority in the country, noting that there are certain levels educated people would not fall below.
President Buhari equally appreciated the United States for allowing Nigeria to procure military hardware to fight terrorism, and for the training being given to Nigerian military, which have helped in stabilising the situation in the northeast.
On the development of democratic ethos, President Buhari said Nigeria had adopted the American model wholesale with its term limits, saying that tThose who have attempted to breach it were disappointed, if not disgraced.
He reiterated that Nigeria and her neighbours had been living with the impact of climate change for a while, which has seen the Lake Chad shrink drastically from its original size, affecting the livelihood of about 30 million people in the Lake Chad Basin countries.
He noted that the impact was the primary reason why youths had been defying the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean to attempt emigrating to Europe.
President Buhari said Inter-basin water transfer was the only thing needed to keep the youths at home to resume their lives of farming, fishing, and animal husbandry.
Mr Blinken, who held a virtual meeting with President earlier in the year appreciated the contributions of President Buhari to the protection of the climate, particularly his presence and contributions at the recent COP26 climate conference held in Glasgow, Scotland.
Blinken said America and Nigeria had diverse challenges, with insecurity as the common denominator, and hoped for better partnerships to end it.
Reporting by Abdullah Bello, Editing by Daniel Adejo