The United States government has tasked the President Muhammad Buhari administration on finding a lasting solution to Nigeria’s destabilizing issues, beyond military actions.
Thomas Hushek, Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Conflict and Stabilisation Operations, U.S. Department of State in his address to Nigerian officials, diplomats and US government representatives said only a painstaking dialogue would bring about enduring peace in Nigeria, the Guardian reports.
“Apart from the 15-year Boko Haram issue in the Northeast, Nigeria’s military is grappling with widespread conflicts within the country’s borders, the most current being the second phase of its “Operation Python Dance” in the Southeast that has put soldiers in direct confrontation with the self-determinist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Military authorities have also proscribed IPOB and declared it a terrorist organisation following which they announced imminent operations in South-West and South-South regions — a decision that has drawn the ire of civil society groups and human rights activists.
The “2019 election will be critical to Nigeria’s continued prosperity and stability.
“Achieving stability or building political peace is a political endeavour,” he said, just as he explained that responsiveness to people’s needs would
“build trust and encourage durable peace.”