Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar said Nigeria is investigating the claims that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is supporting Boko Haram, although the allegations have not been verified.
Speaking at the 2025 ministerial press conference in Abuja on Thursday, Tigga stressed that Nigeria is taking the allegation seriously.
He said: “About Nigeria’s dignity and this allegation, because it’s an allegation, it’s not proven. And we know that politics plays a role in the United States of America. They have no partisan politics. It’s not our business. We are not involved in their domestic politics.”
Tigga further assured that despite these concerns, Boko Haram has been greatly downgraded and that the government is actively working to repair and reintegrate those affected. He highlighted Gombe’s Security Corridor Program, which evaluated former militants, combatants and non-combatants and received the necessary support. He added: “I can tell you for free that Boko Haram has been severely degraded. We have a safe corridor in Gombe, with suspicious militants, combatants and non-combatants, those trapped in the conflict are being resolved.
The minister also praised Nigeria’s counter-terrorism strategy and pointed out that the Joint Multinational Task Force (MNJTF) has become a model for other countries. “Somali is looking at what we are doing, saying they want to copy us, and there are a few others. Sometimes, we take some of the indigenous solutions we propose for granted. Developed countries are looking at the joint multinational task force and ask, ‘How are these people?’ We want to do the same,'” he said.
Tugga also recalls Nigeria’s long-term contribution to the peacekeeping mission throughout Africa, including efforts in Sierra Leone and Liberia, urging Nigerians to recognize the country’s achievements in security and diplomacy. He concluded: “We do need to start looking at ourselves in different ways. We need to start looking at our models and applications. We need to start looking at everything that peacebuilding in Liberia is done and what we are doing now in the northeast.”
