The United States government has denied funding Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, stressing that it stands with Nigeria against the terrorist group and willing to rid the country of the insurgents.
The US Ambassador to Nigeria, Richard M. Mills Jr., refuted the claim during an interview with newsmen shortly after his closed-door session with governors of the 36 states of the federation during their meeting which started on Wednesday night and ran into the early hours of Thursday in Abuja.
US Congressman, Scott Perry, had claimed that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) funded terrorist organisations, including the Boko Haram.
Perry, a Republican representing Pennsylvania, made the claim during the inaugural hearing of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency last Thursday.
"Who gets some of that money? Does that name ring a bell to anybody in the room? Because your money, your money, $697 million annually, plus the shipments of cash funds in Madrasas, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, ISIS Khorasan, terrorist training camps. That's what it's funding," Perry had said.
The Boko Haram is a terrorist organisation that has ravaged the Northern part of Nigeria, especially, the North East region. It is also active in Chad, Niger, Northern Cameroon, and Mali.
The group has been causing havoc in North East Nigeria for over 15 years, killing tens of thousands of people, in different forms of attacks against the police, armed forces and civilians.
But refuting Perry's claim, the US Ambassador, Mills Jr, said, "There is absolutely no evidence that I have seen that that has occurred, and certainly, if we ever had evidence presented to us that a programme funding was being diverted to Boko Haram we would immediately investigate along with Nigerian partners.
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"And so I just want to be clear that when it comes to Boko Haram, the United States stands with Nigeria and wanting to rid this country of the scourge that that organization represents.
"Let me be clear, there is no friend of Nigeria that has been stronger and its condemnation of the violence of Boko Haram and Boko Haram contempt for human life than the United States.
"We have labelled Boko Haram since 2013 a foreign terrorist organization, a designation that prevents Boko Haram from carrying out any asset transfers to United States, allows us to arrest and seize members of Boko Haram and allows us to cooperate in investigations with the Nigerian government.
"We, I can assure you, have policies and procedures in place to ensure that USAID funding, any of our assistance funding, whether it comes from USAID, the Department of Defense, the State Department, is not diverted to a terrorist group like Boko Haram."
