President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday stated that Nigeria would end the issue of Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East just as it ended the Civil War.
Buhari, according to a release issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, made the statement while receiving the European Union (EU) Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic, who paid him a visit in Abuja.
Noting that Nigeria had faced challenges in the past which it managed to overcome and forge on, Buhari added: “If we were capable to fight a 30-month civil war and reorganized our country, I wonder why people are thinking that Nigeria cannot do it.”
According to the statement, Buhari posited that much of the terrorism in West Africa, particularly Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Burkina Faso was as a result of the crisis in Libya.
He was quoted as saying that the newly created Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development would effectively manage the fallout of the crises of insurgency.
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The President said: “Our priority in the next level is to ensure that Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, are rehabilitated so that livelihood should be established and the children should not lose the opportunity to go back to school which is very important for the future of that area and Nigeria generally.
“We have the experience of the civil war. I could recall the role of the military, the army, each commander had in his pocket how to behave himself and how to allow international bodies like yourself to go round and see for themselves that people are treated in the most humane way. We have this experience and I assure you that we also have this confidence in your organisation. That is why I feel that Nigeria is capable of handling this crisis. It may take long, but we are capable of handling it.
“The important thing really is weapons reaching the Sahel, and the instability it is causing. Look at the casualties in Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali; Libya has a direct impact on the stability of the Sahel. As for Boko Haram, we try to disabuse the minds of the people and I think our people now understand the basic dishonesty in it. With my experience personally in the civil war, I am sure we will get over it.
“I assure you that we are aware of these problems and we will continue to do our best. The newly created Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs is coordinating NEMA and others, to make sure that whatever resources we get are well utilised. The ministry will be accountable to the government instead of having too many bodies doing the same thing. We are also reaching out to foreign countries explaining to them our position, and we are confident we will get over it.”
In his own remarks, the EU Commissioner emphasized the huge role which Nigeria plays on the African continent and globally in economic, social and other spheres and asked for the development of a plan between the EU and Nigeria concerning the insurgency in the Northeast.
