Buhari pledges to secure Niger Delta, rebuild N’East

Minister rallies support in war against terror
PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said the Federal Government had begun mobilising the military and task forces to stop the sabotage of oil facilities and kidnapping of citizens for ransom in the coastal areas of the country.

Speaking at a meeting with a delegation from the United States Institute of Peace, Buhari said his administration was giving the highest priority to the resettlement of displaced persons and rehabilitation of infrastructure in the North-East.

Meanwhile, Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has again called on Nigerians to give total support to the military in its efforts to consolidate the great achievements it had recorded in the fight against Boko Haram.

The minister, who made the call yesterday at the launch of a private news magazine, SI Magazine, in Abuja, said: ‘’Many of our troops have paid the supreme price in liberating communities hitherto held by the terrorists, to such an extent that no community today is exclusively in the hands of Boko Haram. Yes, they may be operating in one or two areas but they are doing so from a position of weakness, unlike in the past when they brazenly took over territories, hoisted their flags, deposed and imposed emirs and even collected taxes.

We owe it a duty to support our gallant military, not to condemn or guess them.”President Buhari assured the delegation that his administration’s ongoing war against corruption would be fought within the ambit of the law and that mechanisms had been put in place to ensure respect for human rights in the fight against terrorism, saying: “We attach great importance to human rights. If there are breaches, they will be investigated and dealt with.”

He welcomed the growing international support, especially from the United States and Europe, for Nigeria’s efforts to end the Boko Haram insurgency.

He also expressed happiness with the support of Nigerians for the cardinal programmes of his government, security of the country, war against corruption and revival of the economy, which, he said, would continue to be vigorously pursued.

Nancy Lindborg, who led the Institute’s delegation, applauded the progress being made by the Buhari administration in ensuring greater security in Nigeria.

She promised the continued assistance of the Institute for the reconstruction and development work going on in the country.
Mohammed, who commended the magazine for featuring in its launch edition the details of the reconstruction, resettlement and rehabilitation efforts being undertaken by the federal and state governments in the North-East, especially in Borno State, said that in reporting the developments, SI magazine is contributing its own quota to efforts to consolidate the peace in the North-East.

He commended the founder of the magazine, Khadijah Abdullahi-Iya, for her innovation and creativity and solicited support for her enterprise.

In his own remarks, Chairman of SI Magazine and a popular columnist, Mr. Mohammed Haruna, said the magazine is set to bring to the fore unreported issues like the suffering of women and children in the Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps across the country and efforts being made to rebuild communities destroyed by Boko Haram.

He said the magazine is leveraging on technology to zoom its lenses on the value system and promote the nation’s cultural heritage.