United States (U.S.) Ambassador to Nigeria, Terence McCulley, on Thursday said Nigeria must address the challenges posed by corruption, security and power to foster economic progress.
McCulley told newsmen in Ibadan that it was important for the country to improve its efforts towards resolving its current challenges.
He said the responsibility to develop the country solely lied with its people, adding that they should consolidate efforts towards good governance and transparency.
`The success of Nigeria boils down to good governance and transparency. Nigerians want to see concrete steps by the government in adding value to the efforts of the Nigerian people working for the progress of the nation.
`The consolidated effort towards good governance is an organic process which requires government articulating and concurring to the needs of its people.
`If government reneges on its promises and fails to deliver, then the elections should decide,’ McCulley noted.
On security, the ambassador said the U.S. government, through relevant agencies, was already rendering technical assistance to Nigeria in tackling terrorism and crime.
`We have been horrified by the attacks of the Boko Haram sect, which sought to use fear as a divisive tactic to plant hate and cripple economic development. There is an ensuing law enforcement dialogue between the United States FBI and the Nigeria Police, to see how we can help build capacity to address this problem,’ he said.
He, however, noted that the infrastructure disparity between the North and South as a result of extreme poverty was of concern and needed to be addressed by government to foster unity and peace.
On power, McCulley said Nigeria and the U.S. were already into bilateral involvements in providing the necessary logistics needed to eradicate erratic power supply.
`We cannot be competitive running on generator. Now is the time for action,’ he said.
The ambassador further reiterated the desire of the global community to ensure that Nigeria prospered while united, saying there was wealth of resources in the nation to tap from.
`There is a lot of potential here. We want the Nigerian economy to succeed, which is why we are working through diverse economic departments to ensure the progress of Nigeria,’ he said.