This piece of information was disclosed on Wednesday, 30 July, 2014, by the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Andrew Pocock, while speaking to newsmen on board HMS Iron Duke, a Royal Navy Warship on a working visit to Nigeria.
According to the ambassador, the British
Government’s offer of assistance to Nigeria in the rescue of the abducted
Chibok girls does not involve deploying troops in Nigeria to assume any combat
roles.
“What we are doing is bringing in some form of
expertise, particularly in training and advisory roles and not combat roles,” he said.
Pocock stated that combat roles specifically is
Nigeria’s responsibility, adding that the Nigerian government should not expect
the kind of presence the French has in Mali as the two scenarios are completely
different.
“We are not bringing troops in any combat role.
What the Prime Minister, David Cameron said six weeks ago in London is that we
recognise the difficulties that Nigeria is facing with security at the moment.
And that was in response to the invitation by President Jonathan for
assistance. That is specifically Nigeria’s responsibility. We are not bringing
troops to Nigeria. We are not doing what the French did in Mali; it’s a
different scenario entirely,” he said.
It would be recalled that the schoolgirls were
abducted inside the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno state,
north eastern Nigeria on 14 April, 2014.
More than three months since their abduction, the
Boko Haram insurgents have not released them, though there have been reports of
some of the girls who had managed to escape from their captors.
The leader of the militant sect had stated few
weeks after the terror attack that he would only release the girls in exchange
for some of their members in Nigerian prisons.
However, the Nigerian federal government has come
out to say its not ready to negotiate with the terrorists over the release of
the schoolgirls, saying it would do everything within its power to ensure that
the girls are rescued alive.
Meanwhile, on the HMS Iron Duke’s visit to Nigeria,
Commanding Officer of the ship, Tom Tredary said it was inspired by the need
for the Nigerian Navy and the British Navy to share information and experience
in order to boost maritime insecurity within the Gulf of Guinea and especially
within the West African coast.
“Maritime security is a problem that affects all nations.
So it’s important that security is given the required attention in order to
reduce illegal activities at sea. It requires concerted efforts by all navies
to do that. We think that we can share experiences we have had in combating
piracy in the Indian Ocean and Somalia. This will help the Nigeria Navy to
refine the techniques that they already use to try and bring a great deal of
law and order in the Gulf of Guinea. We think that there is a lot that we can
learn from each other because Nigerian Navy has a better understanding of
activities around these waters and we have a great understanding of activities
patrolling the Gulf of Guinea, so we can share experiences,” he said.
HMS Iron Duke is Type 23 ‘Duke’ Class Frigate
normally based in Portsmouth, UK. It is currently away on a six month
operational deployment visiting a number of partner nations including Nigeria
as well as ensuring security in the South Atlantic.
It was gathered that the crew of Iron Duke will
hold a two‑day training for some officers of the Nigerian Navy, and in the
process share knowledge and experience, all in a bid to aid development and
promote security and stability in the waters off West Africa.
Help should not just be about sending troops might be in monetary terms.
ReplyDeleteBut how is UK going to help?
ReplyDelete