On February 9, 2016, the NAL Council
participated in the Africa Policy Breakfast at the US
Congress. The Council delivered expert opinions and recommendations, for
a renewed US engagement, in the Nigerian and West African theater; where Boko
Haram is still wreaking havoc, even in the midst of relentless onslaught by
Nigerian and multinational troops, and where other ethnic strife is starting to
ravage Nigeria.
The high-level policy meeting was
attended by Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Linda Thomas-Greenfield;
US Congresswoman and Ranking Member of the House Africa-Sub-Committee, Karen
Bass (chief host); Congresswoman Fredericka Wilson; and other senior officials
from US AID; US Department of Defense; and others.
Other dignitaries included Ambassador
Reuben Brigety, former US Ambassador to the African Union (AU) and now Dean at
Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University; Dr.
Raymond Gilpin; Dean, US National Defense University; and Sam Okey Mbonu,
Executive Director of NAL Council, US.
Assistant Secretary of State Linda
Thomas-Greenfield detailed steps the US have taken to engage with Nigeria and
other West African states, which have been impacted by Boko Haram.
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield stated
that US engagement so far included reaching out to both state and non-state
actors such as “Civil Society, Think-Tanks, NGOs, and Community organizations;
as well as military assistance, including ongoing training for the
multinational task force engaging Boko Haram”. Thomas-Greenfield spoke of
US commitment to assist in containing insecurity in the region. She also
stated that the “US had provided assistance to the tune of $145 million USD,
among other assistance”.
Congresswoman Karen Bass reiterated
the need for the US and international community to keep their attention on the
continuing atrocities of Boko Haram in the region, until viable solutions are
found, given the international dimension of global terrorism. She
recalled the ongoing search for the Chibok girls as a matter of disrepute on
Nigeria and the region.
Congresswoman Fredericka Wilson, in
her remarks, provided graphic details of her visit to Nigeria, during the
crisis of Boko Haram’s kidnap of the 300 School girls. Congresswoman
Wilson recounted her eyewitness account of meeting victims, including child
survivors, who survived brutal attacks that left some deformed for life.
She asserted that she was committed to the notion that the girls must be
rescued; in order for the world to know there is progress in the war against
Boko Haram.
Ambassador Reuben Brigety, who was
until recently, President Obama’s appointee as the US Ambassador to AU, spoke
passionately about why “Africans must stand up and demand better governance
from the leadership”. Ambassador Brigety stated that the complacency of the
governed is equally complicit in bad governance and corruption. Brigety
bemoaned how Nigeria’s once powerful military had been decimated by corruption
at the highest levels.
Dr. Gilpin of the US National Defense
University discussed the need to study the Colombian model of intervention as a
veritable model to use against Boko Haram.
Sam Okey Mbonu who represented the
Nigerian-American diaspora, through the Nigerian-American Leadership Council
(NAL Council); spoke engagingly, about how US policies in engaging Nigerian and
African leaders need to have substantial input from the diaspora.
Mbonu stated that because the
diaspora provides overwhelming direct humanitarian support to citizens in the
affected theater, through monetary remittances to the tune of $21 billion to
Nigeria annually; that the US will be better off tailoring their interventions
with hybrid diaspora input.
Mbonu continued to state that
without the $21 billion USD the Nigerian diaspora commits to Nigeria, there
would be several more Boko Harams in Nigeria and West Africa. He also
stated that other regional agitations in Nigeria, including the resurgence of
the Biafra independence movement, and the reverberations of the Movement for
the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), may crystalize into bigger problems
for Nigeria, if not handled delicately.
Mbonu while acknowledging that the
Nigerian government has huge problems at the moment, courtesy of the current
economic and security situation; however, sees these problems as opportunities,
for Nigeria to retune its political and socio-economic policies.
Mbonu called for political
inclusiveness, based on competence and ability to perform by state
actors. He also called for the patience and active cooperation of the
governed, so that all can work in sync; to actualize the true potential of
Nigeria and the surrounding region.
Mbonu called for the government of
Nigeria to humbly enlist the best minds of Nigeria, wherever they might be,
rather than try to replay parochial ethnic considerations in attempting to
solve the challenges at hand by themselves.
C.
Goldie,
Media
Relations
NAL
Council, US
1701
Pennsylvania Ave, NW Washington DC 20006
Tel:
202 379-2848, Ext. 101, Email: info@nigerian-americancouncil.org
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