Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday
expressed his administration’s readiness to put machinery in place to
persuade the Boko Haram sect that has been unleashing violence in some
parts of the country to embrace peace.
Buhari made the promise while playing
host to a delegation of residents of the Federal Capital Territory which
included the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, who paid him
Christmas homage in his official residence at the Presidential Villa,
Abuja.
The promise came less than 24 hours
after the President claimed that the Federal Government has “technically
won the war” against the sect.
In an interview with the BBC,
Buhari had claimed that the militant group could no longer mount
“conventional attacks” against security forces or population centres,
adding that the militant group had been reduced to fighting with
improvised explosives devices and remained a force only in its heartland
of Borno State.
But the President said on Friday that he
would use government institutions to persuade members of the sect to
allow peace to reign.
He, however, did not disclose the nature which the persuasion would take and those who would be involved.
“On Boko Haram, this government is
determined to make sure that we persuade them if they can be persuaded,
we will use government institutions to persuade them to allow peace to
reign,” he said.
The President stressed the need for all
Nigerians to come together and pull the country out of the problems that
it has found itself.
He said while everybody in the world
believes that Nigeria is a lucky country because of its natural
resources, the country’s problem remains how to organise its citizens
and how to get the right leadership in place.
He recalled that from the analysis of
the All Progressives Congress during campaign, the party discovered that
the country’s three biggest problems are security, unemployment of
youths as well as bribery and corruption.
He noted that while the youth make up 65 per cent of the country’s population, 65 per cent of them are unemployed.
Buhari reiterated his position that there could not be any development without security.
He said, “We appreciate that the
security agencies are doing their best and their best is showing and we
have to continue praying for them. There can be no development without
security; we have to continue to pray for them.
“We have two million people who are
Internally Displaced Persons and 70 per cent are women and 70 per cent
of them are children, some of them are orphans; they grew up not knowing
their parents, tradition or culture.
“As leaders, we have a weighty responsibility to ensure that infrastructure for the orphans are taken care of.
“As leaders, we wake with the feeling
for those children; the most important thing is that they must not be
denied education. Schools must be rebuilt. We also thank Danjuma and the
G7 led by the United States. They have been doing their best to help
Nigeria train our military.”
Earlier, the Minister of the Federal
Capital Territory, Muhammadu Bello, who led the delegation consisting of
Christian and Islamic leaders told the President that they were at the
Presidential Villa to wish him a merry Christmas.
Bello observed that the celebration of
the birth of Jesus Christ coming a day after the celebration of the
birth of Prophet Muhammed was a unique message to adherents of the two
religions to live in peace.
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