The United States Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, said on Monday America is ready to coordinate efforts to rescue the school girls abducted at the Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, by suspected Boko Haram fighters.
He said the U.S has been supporting every effort to tackle terrorism in Nigeria.
Tillerson was answering questions from journalists after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said: “First, we respect the responsibilities of the government of Nigeria and the territorial integrity of Nigeria. But the way we support the fight against terrorism is by providing the troops with capability to handle equipment and also training of the personnel of special operations and sharing intelligence to ensure that they have all the information available to carry out the recovery effort.
“But I think it is also important to put this in a broad regional context as well, Boko Haram is a threat to other regions and this has been the subject of my meetings elsewhere and in Africa as well.
“In my discussion with President Idris Deby in Chad earlier today, we spoke about the threat of Boko Haram and how to deal with the sect’s menace.
“So the U.S is ready to engage and coordinate efforts as well. But we have been supporting, equipping, training and when we can provide information. I think that is the best way we have been helping the government of Nigeria secure the release of the girls, which we hope, will be done in a peaceful manner. We hope that something can be worked out and they can secure the release of these girls quickly.”
He said the U.S is looking forward to free and fair elections in Nigeria next year.
