President Muhammadu Buhari has reassured Nigerians that his administration is determined to push out Boko Haram because the Nigerian environment has to be secured before it can be rehabilitated.
Buhari said this when he received Britain’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Sir Nicholas Houghton in Abuja on Thursday.
He said “For a country to be efficiently administered, it must first be well secured because other social and economic initiatives cannot thrive in an atmosphere of insecurity.
“An environment has to be secured before it can be rehabilitated. Nigeria currently has about 1.5 million internally displaced persons and they need to be returned to their homes and brought out of trauma.
“Their schools, hospitals, churches, mosques, farms and livelihoods have been destroyed by insurgents. If they are not catered for, the country may lose their loyalty.
“When Boko Haram is pushed out and the environment secured, normal life will be restored. That is what we are determined to do. Other things like farming, economic activities and social life will then return. Nigerians are quite enterprising.”
Houghton also added that Britain will do everything within its power to ensure that insurgency is eradicated in the country.
He said “We will also help to ensure that the causes of insurgency are removed. Beyond the military dimension, we are also interested in the stabilization dimension.”