Nigeria Urges US, Israel To Help With Boko Haram Fight

The federal government in a bid to defeat Boko Haram has asked the United States and Israel to help in the fight against the extremist group.
The Nation reports that this plea was made by Lt- Gen. Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau (retd), the minister of interior when he received Mr. James F. Entwistle and Mr Uriel Palti ,the ambassadors of the US and Israel in his office in Abuja.
The minister said the fight against Boko Haram was not Nigeria’s problem alone but a war against terrorism that the whole world should support.

“As you know, this is the hub of internal security arrangement in the country. With five strategic security institutions, there is no doubt that the ministry has a major challenge of dealing with internal security.
“Out of the three legs of the criminal justice system, we have two in this ministry – the police and prison. All of them are strategic institutions as far as internal security is concerned.
“We know that you emphasised on partnership, collaborative efforts and security as it affects not only us but globally. We are ready to partner and collaborate with you to ensure that we achieve some level of security in Nigeria and all over the world. We are going to embark on holistic inter-agency collaborative efforts towards capacity building for the security challenge.
“As you also know, there is an increase in world activities that border on threat to security. So, every nation has a role to play, it is not a responsibility of just one country.
“Even in our case, where we are dealing with Boko Haram, it has now become a regional problem. It is no longer a problem that Nigeria alone can deal with, but one that affects four other countries including Nigeria.”
Both countries confirmed the willingness of their countries to support Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram.
Entwistle noted that Nigeria and the US had a long standing relationship and a project was already on to train Nigeria security personnel.
“We are here in particular to discuss the situation in the northeast in line with the problem of insurgence in the world. We are concerned about how we can help in organising particular kind of trainings. We are very happy to identify with Nigeria in that area.

“Another area we have equally discussed with the minister is how we can contribute in government’s watchdog and Security Governance Initiative (SGI) and this ministry has been patient on this issue, but I am pleased to say that we have a team and it is a very interested idea as an attempt to approach the need to reform democracies to improve securities. It is an exciting possibility.
“As I always say, the USA is not going to do anything for Nigeria, we are going to do things with Nigeria. We are two equal democratic partners working together to make the world a better place.”
Meanwhile, France has joined in the fight against Boko Haram and assured Nigeria that it was committed to end global terrorism