By Our Reporter
Following allegations by Congressman Scott Perry accusing the United States Agency for International Development, USAID, of funding terrorist groups, including Boko Haram, the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Richard Mills, has denied any evidence to that effect.
Mills revealed after a meeting with the Nigeria Governors Forum in Abuja late Wednesday that the US government would cooperate with the Nigerian government to investigate the matter if there was any evidence to the contrary.
He said, “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 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.”
Recall that the lawmaker, Perry, a Republican from Pennsylvania, had alleged during the first hearing of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, that USAID was responsible for the financing of Boko Harem and other terrorist groups. An allegation that had raised a lot of questions on the actual role of USAID in Nigeria and other parts of the world, which resulted in the Nigerian Senate calling for an investigation into the matter.