US Refutes Allegation USAID Used to Fund Boko Haram

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Ambassador of the United States to Nigeria, Richard M. Mills, Jr, has refuted allegations that the United States USAID was used to fund the Boko Haram terrorist group, stating that the US government was the first to declare Boko Haram a terrorist group.

A Republican lawmaker, Perry, representing Pennsylvania, had during the inaugural hearing of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency in a paper titled, ‘The War on Waste: Stamping Out the Scourge of Improper Payments and Fraud,’ alleged misappropriations of taxpayer funds, wherein, he said USAID was used to fund Boko Haram.

But Mills, after a meeting with Nigerian governors in the early hours of yesterday, refuted the allegations of using USAID to fund Boko Haram.

He said, “Can I answer the question about the Boko Haram? 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 labeled Boko Haram since 2013 a foreign terrorist organisation, a designation that was designed to block Boko Haram. from carrying out any asset transfers to United States, allows us to arrest and seize members of Boko Haram and allows us to cooperate in investigations with the Nigerian government.

”We, I can assure you, have policies and procedures in place to ensure that USAID funding, any of our assistance funding, whether it comes from USAID, the Department of Defense, the State Department, is not diverted to a terrorist group like Boko Haram.

”There is absolutely no evidence that I have seen  that has occurred, and certainly if we ever had evidence presented to us that a programme funding was being diverted to Boko Haram,  we would immediately, investigate along with Nigerian partners.

”And so I just want to be clear that when it comes to Boko Haram, the United States stands with Nigeria and wanting to rid this country of the scourge that the organisation represents,” he said.

On his priorities as the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mills, said, ”We’re going to be focusing on four key priorities over the coming years. The first is how to improve the business environment so there’s more trade between the United States and Nigeria, more investment on both sides.

”Second, a new renewed focus on improving transparency accountability in this country, how to fight corruption and power. Nigerian voices that are fighting for more transparency here.

“Third, we want to be more engaged at the sub national 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 programs and our assistance.

”And lastly, we talked about our health care programmes, because our health care programs are a large part of us, assistance to Nigeria, and as those programmes are succeeding, as less 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.”