Nigeria must lead Boko Haram fight: President
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari says his country should lead the military campaign against Boko Haram Takfiri terrorists in the region, Press TV reports.
On Thursday, Buhari met with the leaders of Benin and three Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) member states - Niger, Cameroon, and Chad - in the Nigerian capital city of Abuja in an attempt to find ways to counter the rising threat of Boko Haram in the violence-wracked region.
During the meeting, the Nigerian president rejected a proposal submitted by the four countries about a six-month rotational military command of an anti-terror campaign, saying it lacks “efficiency.”
"A six-month duration as it is being proposed ... does not augur well for effectiveness and efficiency," he said, adding, "Such a process will undermine, even if it is not intended, the military capacity to sustain the push against the insurgents, who also have the uncanny ability to adapt and rejig their operational strategies.”
Buhari pointed out that Abuja will still retain “the position of the field commander of the MNJTF (Multi-National Joint Task Force) for the period of the war effort."
The Nigerian president, however, welcomed the participation of all Lake Chad countries in the battle against Takfiri terrorism, vowing to earmark USD 100 million in funds to the MNJTF.
“Our campaign against insurgency must therefore be directed on all fronts, starting from limiting their capacity to access funds and weapons. We must, therefore, strengthen our cross-border patrols and increase our capacity to gather and share intelligence,” he went on to say.
Meanwhile, the LCBC executive secretary urged all regional countries to give their political and financial support to the anti-terror bid.
“We need the effort to accept these realities and give the necessary political support and financial resources to restore peace and security and put in place infrastructure” damaged by Boko Haram terrorists, said Sanusi Imran Abdullahi.
Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” started its campaign of terror in Nigeria in 2009, having killed thousands of people so far. The Takfiri group has also conducted military operations in Nigeria’s neighboring countries Cameroon, Chad, and Niger.
FNR/NN/HMV
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