| Barely three months after Stuart Symington resumed office as US Ambassador to Nigeria, he has expressed his willingness to help lift the standard of living at the grassroots. |
Symington facilitated the recent $173,000 grants Nigeria got from the United States Embassy in Nigeria. The grants given to 30 local Non-governmental organisations, covering 19 states of the federation for community-based projects was under the Ambassador Symington’s Small Grants Programme.
The programme geared towards providing one-time small grants to community development projects was largely funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency plan for AIDS Relief and by the U.S. Department of State Self-Help.
Speaking on the grants, Symington said: “The ambassador’s small grant programme was established as a programme for the U.S. Mission in Nigeria to assist groups, neighbourhoods, villages and communities to help themselves.
He explained that the grant is expected to cover projects ranging from purchasing of books and equipment for schools, construction of classrooms, health clinics, community centres, food processing mills to boreholes and latrines.
The funds would also provide economic, nutritional and hygienic needs of some families and communities affected by HIV/AIDS as well as provide safe school toilets to mitigate communicable diseases.
The Ambassador, who said Nigeria was unique in the success of Africa as a continent, stressed on the need to support families and communities to make Nigeria great.
The beneficiary states include Anambra, Benue, Borno, Cross Rivers, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Federal Capital Territory, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ondo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Kaduna, Kebbi and Kogi States.
- Stuart Symington was sworn in as the Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Nigeria on October 31, 2016. In July 2015, Symington was named the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Central Africa and African Security Affairs. Symington and his colleagues in the Africa Bureau worked with U.S. missions and partners throughout the continent to support the people of Africa in their efforts to achieve broad-based prosperity and lasting security by ensuring inclusive democratic governance and justice.
Raised in Missouri, Symington earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, and a Juris Doctorate from Columbia University. He clerked for the Chief Judge of the Eastern District of Missouri, then litigated and practised corporate law in New York, London, Paris, and St. Joseph, Missouri, before becoming a Foreign Service Officer in 1986. After beginning his diplomatic career tracking protests and politics in Honduras, he moved to Spain and worked on economic issues before serving as the Ambassador’s aide during Desert Shield and Storm.
Economic Relations With Nigeria
Though the stance of the president-elect, Donald Trump, might have a negative influence on the relationship between the two countries, considering Trump’s media campaign against Africa and Nigeria especially,
the United States remains the largest foreign investor in Nigeria, with investment concentrated largely in the petroleum/mining and wholesale trade sectors. U.S. exports to Nigeria include wheat, vehicles, machinery, oil, and plastic. Nigeria is eligible for preferential trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). U.S. imports from Nigeria include cocoa, rubber, antiques and food waste. The United States and Nigeria have signed a bilateral trade and investment framework agreement.
Both countries belong to a number of the same international organizations, including the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and World Trade Organization. Nigeria is also an observer to the Organization of American States.
Bilateral Representation
Nigeria maintains an embassy in the United States at 3519 International Place, NW, Washington, DC 20008, (Tel: 202-986-8400).
The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the north-west and Hawaii, extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture centre, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles’ Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.
Related statistics
President: Barack Obama
Population: 318.9 million (2014)
Gross domestic product – 16.77 trillion USD (2013)
Population – 316.5 million (2013)
Gross National Income-16.99 trillion PPP dollars (2013).
