— Ambassador, Northern govs meet
— China, UK to assist us – Jonathan
By Zainab Suleiman Okino
and Abdullahi M. Gulloma, Abuja
The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle, last night said “all possibilities would be explored” in the effort to rescue the nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted in Borno state by Boko Haram three weeks ago, including the use of drones.
He was responding to a question whether the U.S. special forces coming to help find the girls would make use of such technology.
Entwistle, however, said the details of the kind of collaboration to be made between his government and Nigeria were still being worked out.
The ambassador was speaking during a briefing for reporters at a meeting the US Embassy held with some governors of northern states last night in Abuja as part of continued efforts to rescue the Chibok schoolgirls.
According to him, the meeting followed a telephone conversation between US Secretary of State John Kerry and President Goodluck Jonathan, assuring that his country was committed in its support to Nigeria to get the girls out.
He said this at an interactive meeting with the governors in Abuja.
Although the details were still sketchy, the ambassador said “several US agencies” would be involved as they are currently putting a team together for the rescue operation.
Entwistle said in addressing the insurgency problem confronting the country, the US and Nigeria had a security relationship that predated Boko Haram and America had been helping the Nigerian government in military training.
These, he said, would be intensified.
At least six governors were present at the closed door meeting while four others were represented.
Those in attendance were Governors Mukhtar Ramalan Yero of Kaduna state, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger, Martala Nyako of Adamawa, Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa, Idris Wada of Kogi and the acting governor of Taraba, Garba Umar.
Benue, Kano, Jigawa and Benue states were represented by their deputies.
Meanwhile, the Chinese and British governments have pledged to offer some assistance to Nigeria in the efforts to stamp out terrorism from the country and to rescue the missing Chibok schoolgirls.
President Goodluck Jonathan disclosed the Chinese pledge yesterday while speaking at the State House during a joint press conference with the
Premier of China, Li Keqiang, who is on a state visit to the country and to attend the ongoing World Economic Forum on Africa.
He said Nigeria and China have agreed to deepen cooperation in the fields of defence and security and strengthen cooperation in counter-terrorism, anti-piracy and combating organised crimes.
Jonathan said: “The premier expressed firm support to efforts at safeguarding our sovereignty and secure our territorial integrity as well as promoting economic development.
“The premier promised that China will assist Nigeria in our fight against terror, especially our commitment and efforts to rescue the girls that were taken away from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno state.”
He added that he and Mr. Li also reviewed economic, trade, political and cultural relations between the two countries, and agreed that the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the strategic partnership between the two countries coming up in 2015 should be marked to further deepen the relationship.
“We agreed to encourage our bastions, companies to further deepen cooperation in infrastructure development, especially the railways, power plants and airports,” he said. “We also agreed that the economic cooperation zones established by the Chinese enterprises in Nigeria have achieved tangible progress and that those enterprises should be encouraged to invest in various fields of the Nigerian economy.
“We further expressed support for the financial institutions of the two countries for cooperation in on-lending to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria.
“At the end of our discussions, our ministers signed a number of bilateral cooperation agreements and memorandums of understanding. Among them is the Bilateral Air Services Agreement which will definitely promote greater people-to-people contact and also enhance bilateral trade and commerce.”
On his part, the Chinese premier said they also agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, financial services, trade and investment, agriculture, air services, aerospace and people-to-people exchange.
He said China wanted to work with Nigeria to ensure a quality and safety of mutual exchange and export because Nigeria is one of China’s trading partners in Africa with trade benefits amounting to 30.6 billion US dollars (about N4.9 trillion) in 2013.
He said: “I wish to emphasise that we know that the government and people of Nigeria pay high attention to coastal rail project in Nigeria. The project is quite significant to the national security and economic development of the country.
“Chinese companies have already shown a key interest in this project and the Chinese government will give support to the cooperation between the two sides on the project in terms of financing and experts.
“We want to work with Nigeria to the conclusion of the project so that it will bring benefits to the people of Nigeria. Nigeria has become the largest economy on the African continent. Moreover, the Nigerian economy has sustained the upward momentum.”
On Britain’s commitment, Jonathan said the country would deploy its intelligence-gathering resources in support of Nigeria’s security agencies currently engaged in the search and rescue operation of the missing school girls.
Blueprint had exclusively reported yesterday that the British government was in talks with Nigerian security officials on the issue of cooperation on the rescue effort.
The president’s spokesman, Dr Reuben Abati, disclosed in a statement in Abuja yesterday that Jonathan spoke with the British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron, on the phone after meeting with Premier Li Keqiang of China.
He said the president asked and received a promise of the deployment of British satellite imaging capabilities and other advanced tracking technologies in support of the ongoing effort.
The Guardian newspaper of London reported yesterday that Britain is to send a small group of experts to Nigeria to help with the hunt for the schoolgirls.
It said that the team – drawn from Whitehall departments including defence, international development and the Foreign Office – may include military officers but will concentrate on planning, co-ordination and advice to local authorities, rather than getting involved in operations on the ground to free the girls.
David Cameron’s official spokesman was quoted as saying the UK team will fly to Nigeria “as soon as possible”, but was unable to say how large the group will be.
The newspaper said the British team will work alongside US military and law enforcement officers tasked by President Barack Obama to provide technical assistance to the Nigerian authorities. “Downing Street stressed that Nigeria’s government remains in the lead in the operation to find the 276 missing girls,” it added.
According to the report, talks are under way through the British embassy in Washington and the high commission in Abuja to establish “in short order” what assistance the UK team can most usefully offer.
At prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons, Cameron said it was vital that Britain stood against the actions of “extreme Islamists” who oppose education and progress.
He said: “I’m the father of two young daughters and my reaction is the same as every father or mother in this land or the world.
“This is an act of pure evil. It has united people across the planet to stand with Nigeria to help find these children and return them to their parents.
“The foreign secretary and the British government have made repeated offers of help to the Nigerian government since the girls were seized. I’ll be speaking to the Nigerian president this afternoon and will again say Britain stands ready to provide any assistance immediately we can, working very closely with the US.”
Cameron’s official spokesman said that in a telephone call shortly afterwards, Cameron assured Jonathan of his “shock at the appalling attack and his whole-hearted support for the Nigerian people during this very difficult time”.
The spokesman said: “The prime minister reiterated the UK’s offer of assistance to the Nigerian authorities. President Jonathan accepted the prime minister’s offer to send a small team of experts drawn from across Whitehall departments to complement the US team committed by President Obama.”
Cameron’s spokesman rejected suggestions that the UK had been slow to provide assistance following the abduction on 15 April.
“We have been in close contact from the outset with the Nigerian government on this issue,” said the spokesman.
“The foreign secretary spoke to his Nigerian counterpart days after the incident in mid-April. We have been in regular contact through the Foreign Office and high commission at all stages, making clear that an offer of assistance that the Nigerian government would find helpful was there.”
Downing Street said Cameron and Jonathan agreed to “explore how to further strengthen co-operation on counter-terrorism in the longer term, so as to help in the prevention of such attacks in the future”.
Cameron’s spokesman added: “The prime minister and president very much agreed about the importance of the international community continuing to work together to meet the challenge posed by Islamist extremism and violence.”
The Guardian revealed that Britain already has a small military training team in Nigeria, assisting the country in its response to the Boko haram crisis.
Cameron told the Commons: “We should be clear this is not just a Nigerian issue – it is a global issue. There are extreme Islamists around our world who are against education, against progress, against equality and we must fight them and take them on wherever they are.”
Obama has said the US will do “everything we can” to help Nigeria find the missing girls, adding: “We’re also going to have to deal with the broader problem of organisations like this that … can cause such havoc in people’s day-to-day lives.”
The US team will include military and law enforcement personnel skilled in intelligence, investigations, hostage negotiation, information-sharing and victim assistance, as well as officials with expertise in other areas, said the White House. But spokesman Jay Carney said the US was not considering sending armed forces.
