The government of the United States of America has asserted that there is no evidence that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been funding Boko Haram or any other terrorist organization in Nigeria. The US government stressed that if any evidence emerged indicating that programme funding was being diverted to Boko Haram, an immediate investigation would be launched in partnership with Nigerian authorities.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja late Wednesday night after a meeting with the 36 state governors under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), US Ambassador to Nigeria Richard Mills made it clear that no nation condemns Boko Haram’s violence more strongly than the United States. He added, “Let me be clear, there’s no friend of Nigeria that has been stronger in its condemnation of the violence of Boko Haram and Boko Haram contempt for human life than the United States. We have designated Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organisation since 2013, blocking the group from transferring assets to the US and allowing us to arrest and seize its members.
“We cooperate in investigations with the Nigerian government. I can assure you that we have strict policies and procedures to ensure that USAID funding or any other US assistance, whether from USAID, the Department of Defence, or the State Department, is not diverted to terrorist groups like Boko Haram.
“There is absolutely no evidence of such diversion, and if we ever had evidence that any programme funding was being misused by Boko Haram, we would immediately investigate it with our Nigerian partners.
“So, when it comes to Boko Haram, the United States stands with Nigeria in wanting to rid this country of the scourge that this organisation represents.”
During the same press briefing, Ambassador Mills also outlined the embassy’s vision for the future of the US-Nigerian relationship. “I explained to them that we are going to focus on four key priorities in the coming years. The first is improving the business environment to increase trade and investment between the United States and Nigeria.
“Second, a renewed focus on improving transparency and accountability in this country, and how to fight corruption and power. Nigerian voices that are fighting for more transparency here.
“Third, we want to be more engaged at the subnational level, at the state level and with the local governing authorities. That’s, I think, an area where the embassy needs to do a bit more engagement as we develop our programmes and our assistance.
“And lastly, we talked about our health care programmes because our health care programmes are a large part of our assistance to Nigeria, and as those programmes are succeeding, as fewer people have HIV, as polio vaccinations have helped eradicate polio, we want to start transitioning those programmes, keep them sustainable and turn them over to the Nigerian government at the federal level, at the state level. So how do we keep our health programmes sustainable and transfer it over to the Nigerian government so they can run them and make them more effective in a new healthcare future? So that’s what we talked about, that vision. And with that, I’m happy to take some questions. Okay.”
He further noted, “What we’d like to see is, I think, more direct engagement at the state level. Our programmes are more focused on the states. We’d like to help develop the capacity of the states and the local governing authorities. I think this is partly driven by the Supreme Court decision last summer that is going to give, I think, the LGAs, if this unfolds the way we think it will, perhaps some more authority, more fiscal responsibility. So we want to help the LGAs transition to take on this new responsibility and make sure they can work well with the states, based on our experience in the United States, where we have a federal system too, and where one of our governing principles is the most effective government is the government that’s closest to the people. So that’s what we’re looking for in Nigeria and the United States government here.”
Addressing questions on foreign assistance, the ambassador clarified the current status of US support to Nigeria, stating, “Well, first, let me clarify one thing. Right now, the new administration has put in a 90-day pause on our assistance. No assistance has been cut yet; no decisions have been made about the future of our assistance.
“In fact, Secretary Marco Rubio has said this is not about ending foreign assistance to our partners and friends like Nigeria. It’s about how to make the assistance more effective and how to make sure that it aligns with US government policies and interests. So that’s what this 90-day pause is for and our assistance.
“But I think many of you have seen, I hope, that there are waivers, waivers for our assistance that’s life-saving, that provides humanitarian life-saving assistance, whether that’s to HIV patients or to mother and child nutrition needs or to internally displaced people. So that continues, where we’ll be in 90 days, we will know. Thank you very much.”
Through these statements, the US government has reaffirmed its commitment to combating terrorism while also outlining a strategic framework to strengthen its engagement with Nigeria across various sectors, including trade, transparency, local governance, and healthcare, as it seeks to build a more effective partnership moving forward.
