Nigeria to receive $40mn aid from US to fight humanitarian crisis, says Pompeo

Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State has announced an additional USD 40 million aid to Nigeria to combat humanitarian crisis generating from the Boko Haram insurgency.

According to Mike Pompeo, the gesture was in addition to around USD 350 million in assistance provided by the United States in 2019. The Foreign Affair Ministry in Nigeria said in a statement that the US Secretary of State spoke during a joint briefing with Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama after the US-Nigeria Binational Commission.

“The foreign minister and I also discussed today the massive humanitarian crisis that the conflict with Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa and other religious and ethnic violence. We know that these issues are hard. We know that they’re complicated,” the ministry said.

“But I strongly encourage the Nigerian government to do more to protect its civilians, including religious communities and the humanitarian organisations seeking to assist them,” the ministry added, APA News noted. According to Pompeo, the two-day meeting featured discussions on security cooperation between both countries, especially Nigeria’s ‘recent purchase’ of 12 U.S.-made A-29 fighter planes worth USD 500 million.

The sale of the aircraft, according to him, ‘is in support of President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision of building a security force with the best training and modern weaponry’.