Borno South Senator, Ali Ndume, has called for an investigation into the allegation that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded Boko Haram.
Naijaonpoint reports that Senator Ndume said Borno State government and Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) had earlier complained about the activities of USAID and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) personnel in the region.
In an interview with Arise News, the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker stated that the revelation from United States lawmaker, Scott Perry, deserved attention.
“As a Nigerian too, knowing the history of Boko Haram and the level of destruction, devastation that they made us to go through, and even now is still ongoing because there are remnants of Boko Haram and the new one that is emerging in the northwest, Lukarawa they call them.
“When allegations like this come from the source, and that is the US, the USAID is a big department in the United States, as you know, established in the 60s or 50s to help other countries and then for their own purpose. But the way they operate makes us to be so suspicious in the sense that they don’t allow for oversight, and then they go places where nobody goes there, and they do certain things in secret or so. And that becomes worrisome.
“But then this is somebody that is coming under the pretext of helping you where you are in their need. Then you don’t question, or even if they are suspicious, you don’t even have the right to look in. So this is a kind of opportunity for us to really investigate, since the US itself has virtually closed down the USAID, stopped funding because of what Scott Perry said, alleging that they are misusing the money.
“And I think their own hearing is on what they call war against waste, because they feel that the US is spending money where they are not supposed to, and in fact creating more problems to the people that they are supposed to help. So that’s why I said it is the time now for the Nigerian side, and especially the National Assembly and the federal government, to be interested and also launch its own investigation to find out the veracity of such weighty allegations so that we know what to do,” he stated.
Borno Govt, DIA Have Complained On USAID
Giving information on the invitation of heads of security agencies by the Senate, Senator Ndume stated that he moved two motions for the federal government to constitute a committee to look into the allegation and for the Senate to constitute its committee to investigate the allegation. However, the Senate found reason to invite security chiefs for a closed-door session.
Ndume further disclosed that there had been complaints about the activities of USAID and NGOs.
He continued: “Well, I had two prayers in the motion initially, and that is that the federal government should constitute inter-ministerial committee comprising of Ministry of Defense, Interior, Foreign Affairs, and the headship of Armed Forces and other security agencies. That is on the part of the federal government.
“And on the part of the Senate, my second prayer was that an ad hoc committee comprising of the chairman and vice-chairmen of the committees on Judiciary, Human Rights, and Legal Matters, Defense, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Security and Intelligence, Police, and Foreign Affairs, to liaise with the relevant authorities in order to ascertain the veracity of such allegation.
“But the Senate, in its wisdom, said it’s better to compress the prayers to one, and that is to invite all the heads of the security agencies concerned, headed by the NSA, to come before the Senate in a closed session to discuss and to do a kind of investigation or hearing and to find out, because they are supposed to know. And especially the DIA, that is the Defense Intelligence Agency, has really complained, even the Borno State government complained one time because of the activities, the secretive activities of these agencies, not only the USAID, but other NGOs operating in the theater, subjects, things that we really don’t understand going on. “