Nigeria asked the U.S. to help fund power and other infrastructure projects and the fight against an Islamist insurgency, the West African nation's presidency said.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari met U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at a conference in Riyadh Wednesday and discussed increased funding, the presidency said in a statement emailed Thursday from the capital, Abuja.
Nigeria has struggled with crippling electricity shortages for decades despite its potential to generate 12,522 megawatts of power from existing plants, but only generates a third of that.
The funding will help the West African nation of nearly 200 million people “address current challenges confronting her power sector as well as general upgrade of infrastructure,” presidency spokesman Garba Shehu said in the statement.
Buhari is also exploring areas of strengthening Nigeria's ongoing collaboration with the U.S. on stopping terrorist financing, the presidency said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ruth Olurounbi in Abuja at rolurounbi4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Osae-Brown at aosaebrown2@bloomberg.net, Paul Richardson, Helen Nyambura
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