U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Nigeria for talks with President Goodluck Jonathan and other leaders.

She arrived in the capital, Abuja on Thursday amid calls she address Nigeria's rising sectarian violence, widespread corruption and abuses allegedly committed by security forces.

After meeting with President Jonathan, Clinton will hold talks with anti-corruption officials.

Later Thursday, she travels to Ghana where she will meet with new President John Mahama.

On Friday, Clinton is scheduled to attend the funeral of late Ghanaian President John Atta Mills, who died suddenly last month.

Clinton's nearly two-week tour of Africa will then take her to Benin.

Nigeria has experienced a surge in sectarian violence in recent months. Authorities blame the Islamist militant group Boko Haram for much of the violence, mostly in the north.

The country of 160 million people is split roughly in half between the Muslim-dominated north and largely Christian south.