The United States government has expressed disgust over the spate of bandits’ abduction of schoolgirls in Nigeria, indicating readiness to provide appropriate support should the Nigerian government request it.
The US Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, Michael Gonzales, made this known during a telephone briefing of journalists attended by the acting Coordinator for Counterterrorism and acting Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, John Godfrey, on Thursday.
Gonzales disclosed that Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province had no hand in the spate of abductions going on in Nigeria’s northern region including Niger, Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna States.
According to him, although Boko Haram has opportunistically claimed credit for several of these kidnappings in the past, there was no indication that the terrorists were involved in these.
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The official stated that the criminal activity was being perpetrated by bandits who were motivated by money and other economic considerations.
Gonzales fielded a question saying, “Frankly, we’re disgusted by this pattern of mass abductions of school kids. I can think of nothing more abhorrent. And our condolences go out to the individuals affected and their families
“But as the questioner poses, this certainly appears by all indications to be a dynamic stemming from criminal gangs motivated by monetary and economic factors. There’s no indication that terrorists, whether Boko Haram or ISIS-West Africa, are involved in these, although I would note that Boko Haram has opportunistically claimed credit for several of these kidnappings in the northwest in the past.’’
He said that America could help in developing the capabilities of the security forces to better respond to internal security threats.
His words, “longer term, we seek to help develop the capabilities of the Nigerian security services in order for them to adequately respond to the internal threats that the country faces. Again, I think the challenges are many in Nigeria.
“And we are encouraged by President Buhari’s recent replacement of all of the security-sector chiefs and looking forward to partnering with him and continuing to build the capacity of the Nigerian military in order to be able to better protect and defend their people.’’
Godfrey who commented on the US counter-terrorism operations in West Africa disclosed that the US has partnered very closely with France and other allies in a multilateral effort to address the drivers of instability in the sub-region
He said, “The efforts we’ve made in West Africa Sahel space are certainly not limited to counterterrorism or military efforts, although those are certainly some of what we do. It’s a more holistic effort than that which encompasses lines of effort under the U.S. Agency for International Development, other bureaus of the Department of State that do capacity-building and assistance across a range of civilian lines of effort.’’
