US Lawmakers Seek Special Funds For Boko Haram’s Victims
By Suleiman Bello
United States lawmakers have advised the federal government to establish a National Victim Fund which will serve as a retro-active measure in the fight against terrorism.
The US Congressional Delegation, Representatives Frederica Wilson, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Seve Stockman and Lois Frankel who came on a visit to Nigeria, disclosed this to journalists in Abuja, yesterday.
According to them, the fund is necessary for the rehabilitation of all those who have suffered in one way or another from Boko Haram.
The co-chair of the humanitarian mission to Nigeria, Sheila Jackson-Lee while speaking on behalf of the said, “Collectively, we bring a wide range of special knowledge to Nigeria and to focus on a very important issue. We have come from the US to focus on bringing the girls back and to focus on stopping the violence of Boko Haram.”
The group narrated the story of a woman who watched her husband, a police officer, decapitated at the hands of Boko Haram.
According to the lawmakers, the woman’s throat was slashed to a point that she cannot speak and her arms were slashed and lamented that she received no compensation at all.
“So we come today with solution. We also came today in asking the north east and Nigeria to continue to accept international help and it is time to find a way to contain the Boko Haram insurgency and save the lives of so many.” Jackson-Lee said.
Congresswoman Frederica Wilson on her own said their mission in the country was to put pressure on the international community, including the US and Nigerian governments, to help bring back the girls, who range in age from 16 to 18.
“Everyone around us has a responsibility to find these young girls. And we cannot afford to give up until we find all (the) young women who were kidnapped from a school which is supposed to be a safe place.” She said
Steve Stockman in his speech revealed the willingness of the group to engage Nigeria in a comprehensive partnership to save the country from the current crisis rocking the country, adding that the group would extend a hand of friendship to resolve the problem.
The fund according to the visiting lawmakers would service “all of the victims who have suffered at the hands of Boko Haram, for the girls who are still missing, for the girls who escaped, for their families, for the father who spoke to us about his missing daughter, and the victims who have perished and their families, they need compensation.
“We thank President Barack Obama and the United States Congress for its very keen interest on the question of bringing the girls back, and stopping the horrific violence of Boko Haram,” Jackson-Lee said.
“We also believe that it is important to focus on our children and to acknowledge that more than 10 million children in Nigeria are not in school, many of them are in the north east.
“It is time for economic empowerment and jobs to take the children away from Boko Haram, put them in schools and give the young people in the North east and in Nigeria the opportunity for jobs and education,” she noted.