British High Commissioner expresses concern over insecurity, says Nigeria is struggling

The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing has expressed worry over the deteriorating security situation in the country.

The Commisioner made the statement while speaking with journalists during the reception held to welcome home the 2019/2020 UK Chevening scholarship beneficiaries.

She said the UK government is keen on helping Nigeria win its fight against insecurity.

She said the UK had been doing it’s best to help Nigeria, pointing out that it had been helping the Nigerian military in the areas of training, campaign planning, and how to counter IEDs.

She said “We are extremely concerned about the deteriorating security situation.”

She further said “Nigeria is facing a lot of problems everywhere – in the northeast, terrorism; in the northwest, banditry, kidnapping; in the middle belt, the farmers-herders conflict; in the south, the Niger Delta conflict everywhere.”

“And the secession movements in the south-east. So, Nigeria is really struggling.”

She reiterated that “Well, we are here to support and help. We have the military team here, who came here after the Chibok girls were kidnapped actually. We are still here, training the Nigerian military, helping them to do campaign planning, how to counter IEDs.”

“So, we are here for a long time. This is a Nigerian partnership. Your insecurity becomes our insecurity if we don’t help you tackle it. So, we are here and we are trying to do our best to support you,” she said.