US Deputy Secretary Of State Campbell Commends Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry On Galactica Funds Repatriation
By Bukar BOLORI
US Deputy Secretary of State, Kurt Campbell, has commended the Nigerian government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for its close collaboration in successfully repatriating funds linked to forfeited luxury real estate and the Galactica Star Superyacht.
According to the spokesman of Amb. Yusuf Tuggar, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alkasim AbdulKadir, the comment was made during a valedictory telephone conversation of his boss with the Deputy Secretary of State, Kurt Campbell.
He said the departing Deputy Secretary of State made the commendation and thanked Tuggar and his team over the repatriation, stressing that the repatriation negotiations had made him a believer in the country, and further pledged the support and cooperation of the incoming Deputy Secretary of State.
AbdulKadir said Tuggar thanked him for his dedication to the process and steadfast determination to bring the repatriation to fruition, and addressing the bilateral issues between the two countries, such as leveraging technology to turn digital assets like Binance into mutually beneficial opportunities for Nigeria to become a hub of data mining, data storage and artificial intelligence.
Tuggar said as energy producers, “Nigeria’s robust gas energy transition plans, like the African Atlantic gas pipeline traversing 15 African countries, can provide the requisite energy supply for crypto players and data miners. This has great potential, and we are counting on our allies like the United States and Morocco.”
He noted that: “Truly, Nigeria and the United States are going back to basics, back to strong values, and this is something we can build upon.”
Plans are on to use the repatriated funds to expand the Distributed Access Through Renewable Energy Scale-Up project through the Rural Electrification Agency (REA). The programme is intended to increase access to electricity services in the country.
