The Senator representing Borno South, Ali Ndume, has urged the Federal Government to probe a claim that some funds from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) ended up with Boko Haram.

The claim was made by US Congressman Scott Perry who also said ISIS and other terrorists organizations benefitted from USA IF diverted funds.

Reacting, Ndume who appeared on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme, said the claim should be treated as more than an allegation.

“You can’t say it’s just an allegation; it’s more than that,” he said.

“That’s why the Nigerian government and the National Assembly, especially, need to look into it to investigate and verify the veracity of such a very weighty allegation.”

The lawmaker also spoke of suspicions that foreign humanitarian agencies operating in Nigeria’s insurgent-ridded North-East zone sponsored terrorist activities.

Ndume said, “This development is very worrisome, especially because one of the terrorist organisations mentioned by Scott Perry is Boko Haram, and Boko Haram has ravaged not only the North-East but even (other parts of) Nigeria.

“You can remember Boko Haram bombed the police headquarters and the UN office in Abuja, and the casualties were enormous. So, the Nigerian government must be interested.

“I’m worried, but the Nigerian security agencies have raised this indirectly several times. Even the Borno State government was wary of the operations of the NGOs.

“I remember during the period of (Lieutenant General Tukur) Buratai, the Nigerian Army got intelligence and even raided the office of USAID or United Nations in Maiduguri. There was also a time when the governor got intelligence and security agencies raided one NGO that was providing training to some of their staff on how to use guns.

“We have been wondering for all these years where these people are getting money.”

He pointed out that Nigeria has passed the level of receiving humanitarian aid.

“This issue of relying on aid from other countries is not even good for us because Nigeria, by now, is supposed to be the one that is giving out aid and not receiving aid,” he said.

“This is like a wake-up for all of us in government. We have everything; the only problem is the leadership. We need to fix that so that we’ll tap into what we have and be content.”