US worried about Poverty and Corruption and its Effects on Boko Haram

The American ambassador to Nigeria, Terrence McCulley has stated that the American government is concerned about the state of poverty and corruption in Nigeria.

The top diplomat stated his government will work towards alleviating poverty and fighting corruption in the country. The US government, he said, will support various Nigerian economic sectors such as Energy, Education, Agriculture, regional security and the Niger Delta.

McCulley also condemned the activities of Boko Haram insurgency, stating that the US may consider citing an embassy in the northern city. However he said the US would carry out educational programs in the North in order to ensure the development of the North. He specifically mentioned Bauchi and Sokoto as states that need education and public health programs.

He said, “The U.S. government will improve children’s education and restore hope for their future. We are committed to partnership with Nigeria and we have programmes with the Nigerian Police in various capacities. I think that there would continue to be challenges and Nigeria can count on partners like the United States to help build capacities to address these challenges.”

On the fight against corruption, he said, “We have a variety of programmes to build capacity of the EFCC. We saluted the nomination of Chairman Ibrahim Lamorde. For a year and half, we tried to raise nomination because we recognised that the EFCC had not been able to fulfill its mandate.

“We have a variety of training programmes in place to build the capacity of EFCC workers. Chairman Lamorde is going to Washington in a week’s time to have similar discussion with law enforcement and other agencies. At every opportunity, we talk about the need to address the problem of corruption. It is a dialogue we carry out at the highest level of this government and we recognize there is a problem. But I think we are deploying resources to assist the government of Nigeria to address this problem and it is part of our public diplomacy message.”