By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Millions of dollars allocated for humanitarian interventions from US taxpayers through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have instead been channelled into funding terrorism in Africa, including Boko Haram, US Congressman Scott Perry has alleged.
Tech mogul Elon Musk, who was appointed by US President Donald Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, had ordered the closure of USAID, accusing the agency of corruption in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Musk also criticised USAID, alleging that it engaged in rogue operations. Trump had also ordered the closure of USAID, accusing the agency of corruption in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Boko Haram, based in northeastern Nigeria and also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon, and Mali, has, over a decade, killed tens of thousands of people in frequent attacks against the police, armed forces, and civilians, displacing millions of others.
At the inaugural hearing of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency on Thursday, titled The War on Waste: Stamping Out the Scourge of Improper Payments and Fraud, Perry questioned who benefits from funding disbursed through USAID.
The session focused on alleged misappropriations of taxpayer funds.
“Who gets some of that money? Does that name ring a bell to anybody in the room? Because your money, your money $697 million annually plus the shipments of cash funds in Madrasas, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, ISIS Khorasan, terrorist training camps. That’s what it’s funding,” Perry said.
Perry further cited USAID’s reported funding of $136 million for building 120 schools in Pakistan, alleging that there was “zero evidence” of the schools’ construction.
“You are funding terrorism, and it’s coming through USAID. And it’s not just Afghanistan, because Pakistan’s right next door.
“USAID spent $840 million in the last year, the last 20 years, on Pakistan’s education-related programme. It includes $136 million to build 120 schools, of which there is zero evidence that any of them were built. Why would there be any evidence? The Inspector General can’t get in to see them.
“But you know what? We doubled down and spent $20 million from USAID to create educational television programmes for children unable to attend physical school. Yeah, they can’t attend it because it doesn’t exist. You paid for it.
“Somebody else got the money. You are paying for terrorism. This has got to end.”
