WARRI: Dozens of Nigerian state governors on Thursday approved the transfer of $1 billion to aid the federal government's fight against the deadly Boko Haram insurgency, signaling that previous announcements of victory over the Islamic extremists had come too soon.
Attacks have increased in recent weeks as Boko Haram turns to using women and children, often abducted and indoctrinated, as suicide bombers to target cities and towns in the country's vast northeast.
Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki said 36 state leaders approved the transfer of $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account, which is used to hold revenues from oil production and protect planned budgets from shortfalls due to volatile crude prices.
The transfer makes up nearly half of the $2.3 billion held in the account. The $1 billion will be spent on purchasing security equipment, procuring intelligence and logistics. The decision was made during a meeting of the National Economic Council.
Weapons procurement for the fight against Boko Haram has been marred by a massive corruption scandal in a country where graft is widespread. Nigeria's former national security adviser faces criminal charges alleging that $2.1 billion meant to buy arms was diverted.
President Muhammadu Buhari a year ago announced that Boko Haram had been "crushed" after the military flushed the extremists from forest strongholds. A series of high-profile attacks this year, however, led to a military shuffle.
Boko Haram's eight-year insurgency has proven to be one of Africa's more persistent threats, killing more than 20,000 people, spilling over into neighboring countries and displacing millions in a vast humanitarian crisis. Nigeria was part of a massive aid appeal by the U.N. secretary-general early this year for four countries, including Somalia, Yemen and South Sudan, where mass hunger is fueled by conflict.
Aid groups have despaired that such appeals for Nigeria's crisis remain underfunded.