The US Government has said it will help its Nigerian counterpart in efforts to free the abducted girls of the Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, by providing intelligence, capacity with equipment and training of the personnel.
Visiting US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, said in Abuja at a joint press conference with Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama: “First, we respect the responsibilities of the government of Nigeria and the territorial integrity of Nigeria.
“But the way we support is in providing them capacity with equipment and also training of the personnel of special operations and sharing intelligence to ensure that they have all the information available to carry out the recovery effort.
“But I think it is also important to put this in a broad regional context as well. Boko Haram is a threat to other region and this has been the subject of my meetings elsewhere and in Africa as well.
“In my discussion with President Derby in Chad earlier today, we spoke about the threat of Boko Haram and I think it is important and it’s really been powerful.
“The collaboration between the joint task force which Nigeria is a part and Chad is a part, to respond to this threat of terrorism which Boko Haram is one of the organizations, there are other threats that the leadership of this country has to deal with.
“So the United States is ready to engage and coordinate efforts as well. But we have been supporting, equipping, training and when we can provide information.
“I think that is the best way we have been helping the government of Nigeria secure the release of the girls, which we hope, will be done in a peaceful manner. We hope that something can be worked out and they can secure the release of these girls quickly.”
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had told Tillerson, in a meeting preceding the press conference, that the country was more disposed to negotiating for the release of the girls with the assistance of international organisations.
“We are trying to be careful. It is better to get our daughters back alive,” the president said, while seeking assistance in equipment and training from the US government.