Respected award wining writer and civil activist, Chimamanda Adichie has said that Nigeria does not need help from Western powers to combat Boko Haram.
Adichie who was personally effected by the tragedy as her family was forced to flee the region says foreign countries like America and France should solve their own economic problems and leave Nigeria to fend for itself.
She said, “Now we have American drones helping us in this forest and even the French have sent in people – shouldn’t they be fixing their own economy?” she said.
“We can solve our own damn problems,” she added.
Adichie however expressed her gratitude for the international adoption of the #BringBackourgirls campaign which she clarified was started domestically in Nigeria before international media caught on and forced a stronger response to the incident.
“It was very much a grassroots social media Nigerian campaign. The fact that westerners are sharing in something started locally is fine with me.
“I recognise that the campaign made a difference. People paid attention and then the [Nigerian] government had to sit up a little bit.”
Adichie wondered why Boko Haram abductors were being looked for by American Drones instead of by local Nigerian intelligence sources.
“I’m sure that there are hunters in that area who know that forest very well. Why haven’t they been used? Why aren’t we depending on them?
“What we need is a better equipped military, a better trained military: we don’t need Americans to send people in.” Stopping herself at this point, she joked: “This is my Nigerian nationalist rant”.