President Muhammadu Buhari has debunked reports by The London Telegraph that children were faced with death by starvation in northern Nigeria.
This was contained in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on media and publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu on Monday in Abuja.
The statement read in part: “The London Telegraph’s article “Children Face Death by Starvation in Northern Nigeria” (30th July, 2016) repeats a claim from an earlier piece “Nigeria Using UK Aid to Persecute President’s Political Foes” (12th April, 2016) – that Nigeria is diverting UK aid monies away from defeating the Islamist terror group Boko Haram towards those the newspaper identifies as political opponents of the Administration. This is as incorrect as it is unhelpful.
“These claims in both articles are attributed to an unnamed “source” in the United States, and “Western officials”. Yet when the first article was published it drew the condemnation of the US Embassy in Abuja as having drawn conclusions directly opposite to the position of the US government.
“To state the facts: the UK government does not give development aid to the Nigerian administration for use in military operations against Boko Haram. Where British military support – such as intelligence – is provided, it is precisely and only, given for operations directly against Boko Haram.
“Similarly, the Nigerian Government is in no position to divert aid monies used for emergency relief for refugees or IDP camps for any other purpose, as these are dispensed directly by DFID, USAID, the United Nations, the International Red Cross, Doctors without Borders and many other organizations – with which we enjoy excellent relations.
“The humanitarian situation in these camps is real. The Administration remains deeply concerned about the medical, health and nutrition challenges and we are doing everything with the limited resources we have at our disposal to improve the situation. However, the blame for the plight of refugees lies with Boko Haram. They are its cause, not the Nigerian Government.”