Boko Haram: Jonathan Rejected Australian Help Four Times

Australia has repeatedly offered help to the Nigerian government to combat its terrorism scourge and find over 200 hundred Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram, but the offers have not been taken up, the country’s Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop said on Tuesday.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Bishop said that the government had made no fewer than four offers to help the Nigerians find the schoolgirls, who were kidnapped by the radical Islamist group on 14 April last year.

“Nigeria has welcomed our offers but hasn’t made any request for specific assistance,” Ms Bishop said.

“The international community stands ready to work with the Nigerian government to assist in its efforts to counter terrorism and implement counter-radicalisation programmes,” she said.

She was speaking in the wake of reports that at least one girl as young as 10 has been used as a suicide bomber by the extremist group Boko Haram and that as many as 2000 people have been killed in and around the town of Baga in the country’s north – though the Nigerian government has denied the figure is anywhere near that high.

Ms Bishop said: “The government (of Australia) is deeply concerned by the ongoing terrorist attacks and I am appalled by the recent massacre in Baga and the reports of young girls being used as suicide bombers.”

The Nigerian government of President Goodluck Jonathan has been criticised internationally for its failure to effectively address the scourge of Boko Haram, which has emerged as one of the most vicious and enduring jihadist organisations of the past decade.

Ms Bishop said Australia had also provided money directly and through global organisations towards education, sports and art in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, as part of of its efforts to ensure that the over 200 girls kidnapped in Chibok, Borno State are not forgotten, the #BringBackOurGirls Movement will on Tuesday visit three elder statesmen in Lagos and Abeokuta.

In a press release, Rotimi Olawale, spokesperson for the group, listed the three statesmen to be visited as former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka and Ambassador Christopher Kolade.

“As part of efforts to continue to put the abduction of the 219 Chibok Girls and other similar abductions in Nigeria on the front burner of national discourse is embarking on an advocacy visit to three elder statesmen:  former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Professor Wole Soyinka and Ambassador Christopher Kolade.

“The visits in Abeokuta and Lagos today will seek to call on the elder statesmen to intervene in amplifying the #BringBackOurGirls campaign by reaching out to government to provide clear information on the status of the rescue operation and for government to prioritise the rescue of all abducted Nigerians on the top of national agenda,” the group said in the statement.