President Muhammadu Buhari said Thursday in Abuja that significant
\nimprovements in national security remains the topmost priority of his
\nadministration because other socio-economic initiatives cannot be
\nsuccessfully implemented without adequate security in the country.<\/p>\n
Speaking at an audience with Britain’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Sir
\nNicholas Houghton, President Buhari reaffirmed his administration’s
\ndetermination to end the Boko Haram insurgency as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n
“For a country to be efficiently administered, it must first be well
\nsecured because other social and economic initiatives cannot thrive in an
\natmosphere of insecurity.<\/p>\n
“An environment has to be secured before it can be rehabilitated. Nigeria
\ncurrently has about 1.5 million internally displaced persons and they need
\nto be returned to their homes and brought out of trauma.<\/p>\n
“Their schools, hospitals, churches, mosques, farms and livelihoods have
\nbeen destroyed by insurgents. If they are not catered for, the country may
\nlose their loyalty.<\/p>\n
“When Boko Haram is pushed out and the environment secured, normal life
\nwill be restored. That is what we are determined to do. Other things like
\nfarming, economic activities and social life will then return. Nigerians
\nare quite enterprising,” President Buhari told the British Defence Chief.<\/p>\n
The President said that Nigeria appreciated\u00a0 Britain’s support\u00a0 for the
\nretraining of its Armed Forces and asked for more assistance in other
\nareas such as logistics, equipment and intelligence.<\/p>\n
He also called for more international support for regional efforts to
\nimprove security in the Gulf of Guinea through which crude oil stolen from
\nNigeria is shipped.<\/p>\n
In his remarks, General\u00a0 Houghton said that the Buhari Presidency was a
\nhuge opportunity for Nigeria to make progress.<\/p>\n
General Houghton said that he was very impressed with the progress Nigeria
\nhas made in the war against terrorism under President Buhari and assured
\nthe President that Britain will continue to support the Federal
\nGovernment’s efforts to end the Boko Haram insurgency.<\/p>\n
“We will also help to ensure that the causes of insurgency are removed.
\nBeyond the military dimension, we are also interested in the stabilization
\ndimension,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Muhammadu Buhari said Thursday in Abuja that significant improvements in national security remains the topmost priority of his administration because other socio-economic initiatives cannot be successfully implemented without adequate…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n