US plans major border security measures in Nigeria

The United States is to launch a “major” border security programme to help Nigeria and its neighbours combat the increasing number and scope of attacks by Islamists, the Associated Press (AP) report.
The agency report cites a senior US official for Africa, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, as announcing her country’s plan in a meeting between Nigeria and Us officials in Abuja on Thursday.
The terrorist group Boko Haram has been villages in neighbouring Cameroon and have been seizing land in northeast Nigeria where they proclaimed an Islamic caliphate.
Assistant Secretary of State Thomas-Greenfield, who is an assistant secretary of state, was quoted in that report as telling the meeting of US and Nigerian officials that “despite our collective efforts, the situation on the ground is worsening.”
“ The frequency and scope of Boko Haram’s terror attacks have grown more acute and constitute a serious threat to this country’s overall security,” she said.
“This is a sober reality check for all of us. We are past time for denial and pride.”
The Federal Government and the military authorities have faulted reports that Boko Haram this week overran Bama, the second largest city in Borno state, but reports indicate the control of the city has exchanged hands in a back-and-forth manner.
“We are very troubled by the apparent capture of Bama and the prospects for an attack on and in Maiduguri,” the US envoy was quoted to have said.
Bama, a city of about 200,000 people is just 75 kilometres from Maiduguri, the Borno state capital that is the headquarters of the military campaign against Boko Haram. A senior Borno state security officer said a bombing raid destroyed a Boko Haram camp outside Bama.
The officer said two Air Force jets spotted the insurgents, who apparently were gathering for a meeting.
The officer and a member of the Nigerian Vigilante Group of civilians fighting Boko Haram both said some of the thousands of Bama residents who fled were returning home. There was no way to independently verify the confusing and conflicting information about Bama.
A Westerner working on the Cameroon side of the border said more than 100 Nigerian soldiers fled Bama and crossed into Cameroon on Tuesday. Last week, nearly 500 Nigerian soldiers fled into Cameroon from another border town that was under attack.
The United States has flown unarmed drones to spy in parts of northeast Nigeria in a joint effort to try to save more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the extremists in April.
“The Chibok schoolgirls and others remain hostages, enduring horrible and tragic suffering,” Thomas-Greenfield said. She added that Cameroon’s military is increasingly forced to fight Boko Haram within Cameroon, and that the insurgents flee back into Nigeria without fear.
The UN refugee agency said insurgents had begun attacking villages in northern Cameroon last week, and spokeswoman Helene Caux said on Thursday that Cameroonian authorities say some 5,000 Cameroonians have fled the assaults. UNHCR says 645,000 Nigerians are displaced inside their country by the insurgency while tens of thousands have fled into Cameroon and Niger.