President elect, Mohammadu Buhari pens down how he intends to tackle Boko haram, here is what he tells New york Times;
When
Boko Haram attacked a school in the town of Chibok, in northeastern
Nigeria, kidnapping more than 200 girls, on the night of April 14, 2014,
the people of my country were aghast. Across the world, millions of
people joined them in asking: How was it possible for this terrorist
group to act with such impunity? It took nearly two weeks before the
government even commented on the crime.
This
lack of reaction was symptomatic of why the administration of President
Goodluck Jonathan was swept aside last month — the first time an
incumbent president has been successfully voted out of office in the
history of our nation. For too long they ruled, not governed, and in
doing so had become so focused on their own self-interest and embroiled
in corruption that the duty to react to the anguish suffered by their
citizens had become alien to them.
My
administration, which will take office on May 29, will act differently —
indeed it is the very reason we have been elected. This must begin with
honesty as to whether the Chibok girls can be rescued. Currently their
whereabouts remain unknown. We do not know the state of their health or
welfare, or whether they are even still together or alive. As much as I
wish to, I cannot promise that we can find them: to do so would be to
offer unfounded hope, only to compound the grief if, later, we find we
cannot match such expectation. But I say to every parent, family member
and friend of the children that my government will do everything in its
power to bring them home.
What
I can pledge, with absolute certainty, is that from the first day of my
administration, Boko Haram will know the strength of our collective
will and commitment to rid this nation of terror, and bring back peace
and normalcy to all the affected areas. Until now, Nigeria has been
wanting in its response to their threat: With our neighbors fighting
hard to push the terrorists south and out of their countries, our
military was not sufficiently supported or equipped to push north. As a
consequence, the outgoing government’s lack of determination was an
accidental enabler of the group, allowing them to operate with impunity
in Nigerian territory.
That
is why the answer to defeating Boko Haram begins and ends with Nigeria.
That is not to say that allies cannot help us. My administration would
welcome the resumption of a military training agreement with the United
States, which was halted during the previous administration. We must, of
course, have better coordination with the military campaigns our
African allies, like Chad and Niger, are waging in the struggle against
Boko Haram. But, in the end, the answer to this threat must come from
within Nigeria.
We
must start by deploying more troops to the front and away from civilian
areas in central and southern Nigeria where for too long they have been
used by successive governments to quell dissent. We must work closer
with our neighbors in coordinating our military efforts so an offensive
by one army does not see their country’s lands rid of Boko Haram only to
push it across the border onto their neighbors’ territory.
But
as our military pushes Boko Haram back, as it will, we must be ready to
focus on what else must be done to counter the terrorists. We must
address why it is that young people join Boko Haram.
There
are many reasons why vulnerable young people join militant groups, but
among them are poverty and ignorance. Indeed Boko Haram — which
translates in English, roughly, as “Western Education Is Sinful” — preys
on the perverted belief that the opportunities that education brings
are sinful. If you are starving and young, and in search of answers as
to why your life is so difficult, fundamentalism can be alluring. We
know this for a fact because former members of Boko Haram have admitted
it: They offer impressionable young people money and the promise of
food, while the group’s mentors twist their minds with fanaticism.
So
we must be ready to offer the parts of our country affected by this
group an alternative. Boosting education will be a direct counterbalance
to Boko Haram’s appeal. In particular we must educate more young girls,
ensuring they will grow up to be empowered through learning to play
their full part as citizens of Nigeria and pull themselves up and out of
poverty. Indeed, we owe it to the schoolgirls of Chibok to provide as
best an education as possible for their fellow young citizens.
Boko
Haram feeds off despair. It feeds off a lack of hope that things can
improve. By attacking a site of learning, and kidnapping more than 200
schoolgirls, it sought to strike at the very place where hope for the
future is nurtured, and the promise of a better Nigeria. It is our
intention to show Boko Haram that it will not succeed.
My
government will first act to defeat it militarily and then ensure that
we provide the very education it despises to help our people help
themselves. Boko Haram will soon learn that, as Nelson Mandela said,
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the
world.”
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