Two years after more than 200 schoolgirls were seized from their dormitory in Chibok, Borno State, the British government has said that it will not take the lead in rescuing the children but will assist Nigeria in its effort to do so.
The British Minister for International Development, Mark Hurd, made the position of the administration known in an interview with Sunday Vanguard in Abuja. Hurd stated that, since the Chibok adductions was a Nigerian security challenge, Nigeria must take the lead in rescuing the girls. The Minister said that Britain would continue to stand with Nigeria in its effort to tackle the Boko Haram insurgents and find the missing Chibok girls but that such initiative must be led by Nigeria. “ We are determined to help Nigeria, our old friend and partner. However, British commitment to the fight, will be led by what Nigeria needs and initiates. At the moment, our commitment to the fight centres on military training and capacity building of the Nigerian military, which is what Nigeria requests of us. Our relationship is very strong and we are pleased with the successes the military has made against Boko Haram, the Minister said. “As far as the Chibok girls are concerned, Britain is fully committed to bringing them home but this initiative has to be led by Nigeria. It is not the duty of Britain to dictate to Nigeria on what to do to rescue the Chibok girls. We need to support the Nigerian solution to finding the Chibok girls.” Meanwhile, the British government has dismissed as untrue the claim by one of its leading newspapers, Telegraph, that huge sums of money it donated to aid Nigeria’s fight against insurgency had been diverted by the Buhari administration to persecute political opponents, thereby weakening the war and strengthening the insurgents. Hurd explained that the report in the Telegraph was not only born out ignorance but was also untrue in every material aspect. The Minister, who met with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and top business leaders during his visit to Nigeria, explained that none of its donations to Nigeria passes through the Nigerian system, indicating that such funds are managed directly by its agencies. He said, “The simple truth is that none of the development support that Great Britain gives Nigeria goes through government system. No money from Britain in passed through the Federal Government’s treasury to be used by Nigerians. “All that Britain has been doing is to support Nigeria’s fight against graft and none of such funds flows through the Nigerian Government system. So the report in the UK Telegraph that Buhari misused our donation to fight his opponents is completely untrue.” According to him, rather being against Buhari, the British government was very satisfied with the Nigerian leader’s disposition to tackle graft so as to save money for development and bring about prosperity for Nigerians. He made it clear that although Britain would not dictate to Buhari on how to run Nigeria’s economy, his country was ready to give support to strengthen the economy and create wealth for the citizens. He said, “We are very supportive of the Buhari’s effort to fight corruption and we will continue to do so because Britain considers the war against corruption as very fundamental to transforming the future of Nigeria. “Britain will not dabble into the management of the Nigerian economy and we believe that the president has done very well. We are not in a position to tell the President of Nigeria what to do about the economy or to give him any economic instruction on what to do. But we are passionate about wanting to support efforts that will lead to the development of Nigeria and to accelerate the path to not just peace and security but also for increased prosperity for Nigerians. “ We think that the President has done well so far and that Buhari has set the right priorities and we are impressed by much of what he has done since he assumed office because Britain recognises that the process of change is a very difficult one and that it is not going to just happen overnight”. Con Coughlin, the Telegraph’s Defence Editor, had, on Tuesday, written that “hundreds of millions of pounds of British foreign aid given to Nigeria to help combat Boko Haram terrorists is instead being used by the Buhari administration to fund a witch-hunt against opposition politicians”. Among those listed by the paper as being persecuted is Olisa Metuh, the PDP spokesman, who claimed that former President Goodluck Jonathan gave him and his company, Destra, N400 million to launder his image. Metuh has however not denied receiving the huge sum of money from the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, who is also facing trial for multiple criminal offences relating to abuse of public funds and trust.
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