President Goodluck Jonathan earlier today defended his trip to the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro at the time the Boko Haram attacked churches in Kaduna and Zaria in which many were killed and wounded.
According to him, he had no regret embarking on the trip at the period because doing otherwise would send wrong signals to the international community that the nation was overwhelmed by the terrorist activities.
On the recent sack of his National Security Adviser, retired Gen. Andrew Azazi and the former Minister of Defence, Dr. Bello Haliru, Jonathan said they had done their best.
He said government sacked the duo because of the need to change its security architecture and styles of operations to meet with the challenges posed by Boko Haram. If you look at the evolution of Boko Haram, they change their tactics everyday and their interest as a terrorist group is to destabilise government.
President Goodluck Jonathan said on Sunday in Abuja that the Federal Government was prepared to dialogue and train members of the militant Boko Haram group if they surrendered their arms and embraced peace.
The president stated this during a presidential media chat which was broadcast live on national television and radio.
He said if members of the group were ready to disclose their identity, government would extend the olive branch similar to what it did with the repentant militants of the Niger Delta region.
He assured that government would similarly train such members of the group.
“I’d rather wish that the criminals become reasonable and we will train that person, just like we have trained the people of the Niger Delta to become productive members of the Nigerian society.
“So I would have loved a situation where the Boko Haram people stop the rubbish they are doing, embrace government and they are trained in different skills, so that they become productive and contribute to our economy.’’
“If they do one thing and it does not work, they will use other things and you must also begin to change your personnel, change your style and change your strategies,’’ the president said.
Jonathan refuted the claim that members of the Joint Task Force against Boko Haram insurgence were killing women and children.
He said the method of operation of the JTF had been to arrest women and possibly children linked to the sect members for prosecution.
The president said that the claim of extra-judicial killing of children and women was designed to win sympathy for the deadly group.
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Jonathan noted that government must not stop functioning because of the activities of a terror group.
The president said he seized the opportunity of the trip to meet with potential foreign investors who had showed interest to invest in the country.
He said the trip also afforded him the opportunity to appeal to the United Nations to assist nations bordering Lake Chad to ensure that the lake did not go into extinction.
Jonathan said 14 billion dollars was needed for the engineering project of water transfer to the lake and the countries affected needed the support of donors.
Nigeria according to the president is a major beneficiary of the lake, which provided water for fishing and other agricultural engagements of bordering communities.