UK offers to assist Nigeria tackle Boko Haram

The United Kingdom has offered to further assist Nigeria in its quest to end the violent activities of the Boko Haram sect by December.

The British Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Nicholas Houghton, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Thursday shortly after a closed-door meeting he had with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Houghton said he was sent by his government because the United Kingdom shares an interesting security situation with Nigeria.

He said he was in the country to see how the UK could give the necessary support to the government and the President to ensure that the country optimises whatever support it could give Nigeria.

He said, “My concern is in the security situation, in particular the war being waged by Boko Haram.

“I think that Nigerian armed forces have made some remarkable progress in the last few months in pushing Boko Haram back.

“But as it comes to the end of the rainy season, I know the President has got a very strong ambitions  to what he can achieve by Christmas, it shows because the UK has a strong support for your troops training just to make sure we optimise our support and that is the best way we can.”

On why the support is coming now, Houghton said it has now been recognised more than ever before that many of the security threats that are posed are not just localised ones but they are regionalised and global ones.

“I think most of the conversations on security in the recent UN General Assembly was about the threat posed by extremism and terrorism.

“We share within the UK and Europe concerns about the destabilising effect of ISIL in Iraq, Syria in North Africa and also the threat the Boko Haram poses here.

“Therefore,  in many respects, the security in places such as Nigeria, the security concerns are shared by many in the global community, which is why we do need to intensify the nature and type of support we offer.”

Source: Punch