♪ nigeria, better and national nations we have some experts, talabu from the nigeria is on the set, and our group finds to discuss foreign relations, that is up next on the show. knot ♪ ♪ welcome back to another editi

your host armstrong williams. bruce, it's always good to see you. >> chantal welcome to our house. >> thank you. >> it's good that we have chantal on the set today, because you know, we talk about these issues of terrorism, and boko haram, and we always hear about them in the news, and it's interesting how we have our very own cia in nigeria right now trying to find the cell and trying to destroy it, because obviously, it mirrors the same terrorists attacks that we see arn the world, bruce? >> well, that is true, we have extended not only in nigeria but throughout the region cameroon, because boko haram is not limited only to nigeria and into libya they have contacts that is called al-qaeda, and the magrab, and we are projecting our training in special forces into over 100 countries in the world. not simply nigeria, and it's true that te

worldwide, in its dimensions, but i think the causes are different everywhere. the reason why, there's a resort to terrorism isn't the same in nigeria as there is in other countries as it is in the united states and whether or not the united states has any special insights is quite problematic. you may recall, several years ago, there was an internet vignette about the lord's resistance army in uganda, and the sudan and it became a public outrage about the secession in 19 sixties in nigeria and we created a special forces including cia to attack the lord's resistance army and her still around. when you're searching for the underlying causes of terrorism to actually extinguish it it's very, very difficult, and it's almost whack ammo, if you hit them once and they're still there, 16, 17, 20 years later. >> armstrong: chantal, we're very fortunate to have on our set today,

has been its own fight against terrorism and the impact it has, and you being an international business woman versus what you see in american press for someone who lives there, with friends, family and businesses in your beloved nigeria, what is it that you would like to educate us that sometimes we don't always understand about these issues. >> guest: first, thank you for having me. great to be on your show this morning. i -- this is i a very sensitive issue, i think i was watching, dean, when i go into the u.s. last week and guess what i saw on b and mary jay. nigeria and boko haram, and why of all things that goes on in my nigeria and boko haram on b mary jane. i think you're right, as you they say sensationalism sells better. bad news, also, i

better, but there's so many things going on in nigeria, that boko haram is one of the least issues, that most nigerians are worried about, that face them or they have to think on a day-to-day basis. under the old president that was the case, but it was more concentrated in the north, you know. boko haram also affects poorest states within nigeria, nigeria like the u.s., you have 50 states and nigeria has 36 or so states. right, and well nigeria is the largest in all of africa of the population is the largest in all of africa. if you're not in nigeria you're not africa yet, right, how boko haram affects the economy? at the moment, the boko haram impacts on the nigerian economy in my opinion and for all nigerian people is little to none. before i came to the u.s., i came back home to the u.s., i was in kaduna

of i was shocked, i object served in kano, is where the richest man on the african con tenet lives and comes from. it was my fist visit to the northern part of nigeria. cano is probably as industrious as lagos, and l agos is the industry new york of u.s. and it was absolutely gorgeous, i was shocked. i -- it was expected to be under developed. it was not. and caduna it was huge factories, as you know are i'm in the utility business, and i was talking to the utilities, and they were talking to me about how many factories they have. how many of them are owned by lebanese and chinese and inians, and you know -- indians and how agriculture is huge. various things that they were doing. i said to him, i almost did not do business with you

north because of this boko haram story, and the dominance effect that it had in the news, and of course it was stifled, you know, any investment or anyone wanting to come into the north. said the funny thing will about it is that boko haram while it is true that they exist, right, and the kidnapping of the kids, the girls it exists, it's true. and we all wanted the girls to come back, but i feel, and maybe bruce agrees with me or otherwise, that a lot of times i feel like terrorism and terrorists cells particularly in a 46 is almost easy with the wars that you have seen in sierraly own, it stems out of poverty. you are able to recruit in of these young men who have nothing to do, again, to get involved in these, what would be in my opinion, i feel like glorified gangs, right. and terrorism on residents, and the people in general. to i will personly

while boko haram is, exists in nigeria, nigerians from all the states do business across the entire nation. nine out of 11 of the utilities are our clients and my clients today. and i zip across from the east to the south, everywhere, except for the north like i said, which have only gone to recently. i was shocked by how calmer and beautiful it was. >> armstrong: this brings us to a very different issue that we don't ever cover is that our perception of everybody in the world is really defined by our media. when people of think of nigeria and other places, they think of boko haram, they don't think of the industry and the issues that she mentioned the industry and the advancement that they have and it does a disservice to this country, because the american press is very powerful. it's very different when you have somebody who lives there, and interact and

everyday, tells us, he with are not as obsessed as you are, because it fits into ladies and gentlemennelarger narrativeof o. i'm armstrong williams, don't go away.

♪ ♪ ♪ welcome back, you know, as miss abdul was talking about the progress, and the prosperity and the industries that continue to thrive in her beloved country. we were mentioning during the break that this narrative, is not so much about the media. the media is also a puppet in this military industrial complex. >> guest: that's exactly right. we have developed each year more profoundly since eisenhower identified in his 1961 farewell address. i call it the multitrillion dollars terrorism complex, that inflates the danger abroad, tries to suggest that we're involved in a clash of civilizations. that boko haram there are terrorists and wherever

it, wherever there's violence it's a part of an international conspiracy that we need to fight, we need to spend trillions of dollars on them, more drones, more training, because they get the money and the stature. that is what the narrative is. you see today, and trump unfortunately is buying into the narrative. he wants to send more troops to syria, nor into afghanistan, and more syria, more libya, back a ha, bokoharam, and syria, and we crushed by islam and they get staggering amounts of money. that is why the distortions occur, is because, think of how unusual it is, that a country that is not directly afflicted by so-called terrorist group thinks it's more dangerous than the country tra purportedly being victimized by it. we go these countries, we go into pakistan, you should be terrified of your

which india wants to crush it and pakistanis say we know ourselves what the greatest danger is and the united states is telling them what to worry about. that comes back to the initial point is that it is our military, industrial counterrism complex that eisenhower warned about. he was in the peace knit, he was wasn't greed, he i was warrior who defeated adolf hitler, who did v day, across the channel, and he understood that. and that is very unfortunate because it drives our foreign policy that calls us to intervene wherever we feel like it for no purpose. it makes us more endangered because we great enemies, spend staggering amounts of money instead of hoping to influence people abroad by example. if we had a country that honored due process, did proper things to all individuals, who attacked as much as we could, the lingering effects of discrimination here, set an example for others, we would

than all the cia, nsa, drones combined. before we got to this, when we adopt the declaration of independence, the constitution, 1718, we had no military accomplishments. and all of europe and asia trembled. they worried, we had an idea, self government. we the people are sovereign. what if the people in asia and russia rise up. we sent tremble without a single bullet. that is what we need to restore our international diplomacy. we wish freedom at home and abroad but we can only fight to defend our own? chantal. >> guest: most of time when i'm in asia and the middle east i put on the cnn. you talked about the power of the media, particularly the american media. if you're in nigeria, any government office or what have you, you will have

news channel and you lahave cnn playing in the background, probably more so than sky or bbc. those who are more astute would watch all of them including b become c and cnn. -- bbc and cnn it's bothersome, as much as i love cnn because it reminds me of home at the u.s. if they're egg g going to talk t nigeria it's going to be about boko haram. we're not highlighting the issues. nigeria's stock market provided a double-digit return over the past few years. when the global financial crisis hit, nigeria was the last to be hit. so lots of banks from the gp morgan to the marilyn were investing in nigeria. nigeria's agriculture is the largest opportunity left in the world. the sector which is prepaid electricity is al

meaning all of the markets are saturated but niie nigeria's mat is the only one left. you have the chinese trying to get into that non-of these things are highlighted and that their economy is almost comparable to new york. we don't highlight that. of course, the world knows that nigeria is associated with oil, and we have major issues with oil as bruce and i have already discussed. again nigeria is one. top 10 players in oil in the world. the list goes o why then do we like to highlight or single out this issue that we have? because, bruce, i think at the word i this i'm a u.s. envoy whenever i go around the world talking about business opportunitiment both, a u.s. envoy and african envoy a lot of times. people abroad say, you know

have issues in a 46 africa, some people say i'm not sure i want to get on the plane, because i walk on the streets of new york and somebody will pull up a gun and shoot me. i could be sitting in a bar somewhere, with all of the news that we hear about whether it's a rampant shooting in a movie theatre or a high school. a lot of people are wondering if they're safe when they come to the u.s. as well. we have to manage perception? international certify exceptiond how it ranks us, not just residents or individuals who live within a country but how it affects our commerce, because again, bruce, with pe me, he mae me realize that it's not just money, but it's about power and wars. people will begin to define or hint their own territory, maybe i just need to stay other my side of the world as opposed to cross boundaries and coming to the u.

extremely important that we define our narrative and that is why i appreciate shows like yours, for example. they should get out there and should be aired in china and people should see other perspective and what exists in some of these other countries beyond what we see at c. nn. >> armstrong: i'm armstrong williams, don't go

♪ ♪ >> armstrong: bruce, you wanted to make a comment but also you have given a lot of attention to the new president of nigeria muhammad bohari. >> guest: our first comment is

unique. when we had indians that were killed, all indians thought they shouldn't come because they would be shot. and the orders that have been issued with regard to refugees. the number of african enrollments even from countries not affected all, plunged by 60%. all countries exaggerate particular points that are sensitive to him. i'm not defending it, but the problem in the united states is hardly unique. we suffer from it ourselves when things happen in the united states, are projected as everyday occurrence as something that happens infrequently but regrettably, it does happen. with regard to the president, he came and shutdown the journalist, the press, he has taken after the afra, n is the in south and he has promoted a lae

he has destroyed the independence of the judiciariy, he intimidates the judges and that is far more detrimental to investment than boko haram, if you can't get your contracts enforced or it's just whoever has access to the highest people in the land, you're in the south skirts. you're there to try to do business rather than have a relative who happens to know the president. that is unfofortunately is very, very prevalent. >> i agreed with you all along, until this point. >> i think these comments are made because we're not in the country but we're looking from without. people in thig nigeria would beo differ largely with you. under the former president, nigeria was almost considered lawless, okay. the judiciariy that you are talk about, would literally

the size of the bribe would determine how the case would go. the only president who had the guts to say, and balls to go after the judiciary who most people would say should be autonomous. should not be brought into order by the executive. but he went and arrested judiciaries who had money in their homes. not only that, one the things i will credit and i promise you, i -- shall i say i felt there's a lot of things i will credit president jonathan for, under his regime there was a lot of economic activity, right? under buhari he has been focused on corruption. you and i know, that the money runs away, or the capital will run from awn stable environment. on the other hand, under him, rather, under jonathan, boko

why the world was talking about boca harom, if you look at what he has been able to do, the money that was set aside or the money that was set aside by the national security agents are being spent to go after boc boko haram, whereas in the old regime the monies were not used for those purposes and boko haram was able to get away with the things it got away with. if you look at, many soldiers have been caught, and many of the worlds have been returned. we will be back. i'm armstrong williams, don't go a i a

♪ ♪ ♪ how many understand that building stretches you. building anything whether it's a ministry, a project, a house, a relationship, a business, it doesn't matter, building the process of building imposes on you and forces you to become someone that you weren't before you started building. building requires

♪ >> armstrong: final thoughts, bruce, 20 seconds. >> i think it's important that united states try to be as even handed as we can and unblinkered when we deal internationally. we do have nor powe more power r countries and we have skewed understanding to advance our interests. we don't need to do that we need to be much nuance how we interact with africa and other countries. >> armstrong: chachantal 20 nec. >> i will try. before i'm an american i'm an african. the u.s. needs to play a stronger role one in the fight against boko haram, it's important that the u.s. gets involved, and support the nigerian government for sure, be

nigeria, whatever happens in nigeria spills into the rest of the africa and last but not least the u.s. should begin to celebrate, you know, the economic growth that is going on in nigeria. >> armstrong: and that is a wrap. thank you bruce, thank you chantal. tune in again next week armstrong williams.com. good day, everybody.

good morning. i'm adrienne bankert in for diane macedo. >> i'm kendis gibson. >> president trump five days away from a key marker. his 100th day in office. looking for a big legislative victory as congress juggles health care, tax reform and trillion dollar spending bill to aindividual a shutdown. >> former president barack obama back in the spotlight today. he is holding a townhall-style discussion with young people on community organizing at university of chicago. his first major public appearance since leaving the white house. >> two outsiders defeated the mainstream parties in france, two advance to a presidential election run-off in two weeks. macron first with the pro-europe message followed by far right