A United States lawmaker, Stephen Lynch, is currently in Nigeria meeting with the Federal Government to review the US Embassy security following the recent bombings in Maiduguri and the pledge by Boko Haram to join forces with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The American lawmaker is also said to be meeting with US security and counterterrorism personnel.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by the US embassy in Nigeria, Lynch’s visit to Nigeria was originally focused on the American embassy security and “the plight of over 275 school girls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram almost one year ago.”
“This is a critical time for Nigeria and this region. Nigeria’s national elections are scheduled in just over two weeks, while Boko Haram controls an area in the north about the size of New Jersey. The bombings and other Boko Haram activities are sure to further destabilize some areas in the run up to the election. It’s a precarious situation,” Lynch said.
The statement noted that the US congressman was on the National Security Subcommittee and had been travelling as part of a congressional delegation led by Oversight Committee Chairman, Jason Chaffetz and Steve Russell to South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.
According to the US embassy, the delegation is continuing the committee’s nearly three year investigation of “embassy and diplomatic security at high-risk overseas US State Department facilities in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the US Consulate and Classified Annex” in Benghazi, Libya in 2012.
It said that the US government had committed $40 million over three years for equipment and training assistance to Nigeria, Chad, and other African countries in their efforts to fight Boko Haram.
The statement added that the US Special Forces were also training African counterterrorism troops. “The situation can change quickly and we have to continue to find ways to collaborate with our African partners as they battle against regional terrorist organisations,” the American lawmaker said. -Punch.
