The war against Boko Haram militancy in Nigeria and other countries in the West African region will be a long, drawn-out fight and would require perseverance and huge resources, the United States Government has said.

This was made known by the the US Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, while speaking at Capitol Visitor Centre, US House of Representatives in Washington.

The US government official also urged academics and think tanks to help resolve the bitter situation by studying the crisis and finding out the underlying factors and causes of the terrorism in Northeast Nigeria.

Thomas-Greenfield said: “We need academics to help us understand the underlying conditions that led to Boko Haram. We need think tanks to identify creative solutions. We need the business community to help bring investments in the region and to create jobs and spur greater economic development in the affected areas.”

“We need our ambassadors. We need our African ambassadors based here in Washington to advocate for more resources in the fight against Boko Haram, and greater cooperation among the Lake Chad Basin countries.”

“This will be a long fight that requires perseverance, and it is going to require strong resources. We all know the stakes are high. We know what the stakes are. But now is the time — now is the time for us to work together with our African partners to redouble our efforts to defeat Boko Haram and create the bright future — and it’s a bright future that all of the people of Africa deserve. But I would say in this case, particularly, a bright future for the people of northern Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin.”

She noted that Africans, including Nigeria, hardly ever protest whenever people are killed, as opposed to the US where people protest the violation of human right.

“There’s rarely a protest every single day when we hear that Boko Haram is killing people.”

She further said “the outcry in Nigeria and internationally over the killings of the Chibok school girls was impressive – but it was slow. We waited to hear what people would say. Those protests, once they started, helped greatly to raise awareness of Boko Haram’s brutality. But they were only a start. We must say something.”

Mazi Emeka