USA Stands With Nigeria Against Boko Haram – Richard Mills

The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Richard Mills has come out to say that there is no evidence that the United States Agency for International Development is funding Boko Haram or any terrorist group.

He recently had his say while speaking after meeting with the Nigeria Governors Forum in Abuja, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, no nation condemns Boko Haram’s violence more strongly than the US, so he can assure that if any evidence is found in the nearest future, the US government will work with the Nigerian government to investigate it.

He added that the United States stands with Nigeria in wanting to rid this country of the scourge that Boko Haram represents.

His words, “Let me be clear—there is no friend of Nigeria stronger in condemning Boko Haram’s violence and disregard 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.”

On Trump cutting assistance, “No assistance has been cut yet, and no decisions have been made about the future of our assistance. In fact, US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has said that this is not about ending foreign assistance to our partners like Nigeria. It’s about making our assistance more effective and aligning it with US government policies and interests.

That’s what this 90-day pause is for. However, there are waivers for life-saving assistance, such as support for HIV patients, maternal and child nutrition, and internally displaced people. So that continues. In 90 days, we will know where we stand.”

WOW.