Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says the threat to Nigeria by Boko Haram, ISIS and its affiliate, Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP), is increasing.
Osinbajo raised the alarm on Thursday at the State House, Abuja, during the United States-Nigeria signing of a $2.1billion Development Assistance Agreement.
The VP thanked US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken for America’s support on security, infrastructure and intelligence.
Noting that the 12 Super Tucano turboprops have been delivered, he said Nigeria looks forward to receiving the fighter helicopters.
Osinbajo informed Blinken that the security issues and terror threats in the North-East, Lake Chad and the Sahel persist.
“They seem to increase. We are looking forward to greater cooperation because the challenge of terrorism, especially of the sort we have seen with ISWAP, Boko Haram and ISIS.
“It will fester and it can really take on the kinds of dimensions that may turn out to be much more grave than we ever thought. We need to do a lot in that particular respect,” he said.
He expressed gratitude to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for their work in Nigeria over the years.
Osinbajo revealed his admiration about how USAID mastered the way of ensuring that there is a bottom-up approach and participation of beneficiaries.
“I think that accounts for a lot of the success that we are seeing in a good number of those programs. We really would want to thank the USAID”, the VP added.
In attendance were Osinbajo’s Chief of Staff, Ade Ipaye; Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama; Minister of State, Industry, Trade and Investment, Mariam Katagum; US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard.
Others were Molly Phee, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs; Dana Banks, Senior Director for Africa, National Security Council; Suzy George, Chief of Staff, State Department; Tom Sullivan, Deputy Chief of Staff; Kathleen FitzGibbon, Deputy Chief, US Mission Nigeria.
