TERRORISM-We’re closing in on Boko Haram – FG

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     Inspite of the spike in attacks by the violent Boko Haram sect in the North-East, the Federal Government has said it is winning the terrorism war.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Bulus Lolo, told journalists on Saturday in Abuja that President Muhammad Buhari has mapped out a regional security strategy in collaboration with Chad, Niger and Cameroun to end Boko Haram attacks.

According to him, Buhari’s recent visit to Chad, Niger and Cameroun was to strategise, not only on military option, but to explore other measures that could be adopted to address the fundamental causes of the insurgency in order to find a final solution to the problem.

“So the governments of these countries have agreed that they will meet military option with economic, social and supportive measures that will also bring succour to the people. With the strategies being put in place, the war against terrorism will be won soon because we are closing in on Boko Haram,” Lolo stated.

He said the President’s visits to Germany and South Africa for the G7 and the African Union Summits respectively were fruitful in the sense that it provided Nigeria with a wider initiative to resolve some of the challenges confronting it.

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Lolo explained the President’s resolve to tackle corruption and unemployment, which, he said, are linked to insecurity, adding that Buhari’s commitment to the war against corruption was well articulated.

      He stressed that the international community perceived Buhari as having the credentials for “scrupulous honesty and the pedigree as an incorruptible leader,” noting that it is an endorsement that Nigerians should be proud of and a sign of hope that the nation has stepped forward again under the Buhari administration.

The Permanent Secretary, while fielding questions from reporters, noted that economic diplomacy remains the cardinal objective of the government, stressing that the government would bring the enormous expertise in the country to bear as well as mobilise both human and financial resources to make sure that the foreign policy objective of Nigeria is realised by the present administration.

He noted that it is under the economic diplomacy that Nigeria can premise its foreign policy as well as crystallise its domestic policy for development, pointing out that Nigeria cannot change the fundamental principles of its foreign policy.