Abuja
— PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has appealed to the German government to
assist Nigeria tackle the Boko Haram menace by deploying German
technology to track down the terror group.
Jonathan,
who is on a state visit to Germany, made the call during a media
briefing with German Chancellor, Angela Merkel in Berlin, Germany.
The
president also assured investors that Nigerian government was deploying
all arsenals within its disposal to guarantee the security of investors
and their investments.
He
said: “As a nation, we have security challenges because most investors
talk about security. At present, we have the local terrorist group code
named Boko Haram. From publications on this terrorist group, it paints a
very gloomy picture as if the whole country is in tatters. These
terrorists operate in some states in the north east part of the country
but go into other states from time to time.
“But
what I can assure the global community, especially our investors from
Germany, is that government is working very hard to bring it under
control.”
He
admitted that the Boko Haram sect took the security services by
surprise as they employed tactics that were alien to the security
apparatus but assured that government was on top of the situation.
He,
however, added that “the area we expect our development partners
especially countries like Germany to help is in terms of our security
architecture, training and providing us with some modern equipment. You
have to fight terrorists with technology because terrorists do not need
to come with a rifle and you confront them one on one. They will
surprise you, they will not come to engage you except to defend
themselves occasionally.
Merkel reacts
The
German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, in her contribution stressed her
country’s resolve to work with the Nigerian government to bring the
situation of Boko Haram under control, saying that Germany was in
agreement with Nigeria on the dangers posed by members of the group to
Nigeria and its reputation outside the country.
She
added that the bilateral commission between Germany and Nigeria should
be able to discuss the issue with the aim of coming up with greater
details of the areas where Nigeria may need help.
She
said: “I think what is most important is the resolve of the Nigerian
government to deal with such a group and to remain on top of the
situation and protect the peace loving people of Nigeria who suffer most
from such attacks.”
Italian govt to tackle Boko Haram
Meanwhile,
the Italian government has offered to provide security services to the
Federal Government to help it tackle the menace of Boko Haram sect.
Special
Envoy of the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Margherita
Boniver who made the offer, yesterday, while meeting with the Deputy
Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, said Italy was willing to strengthen
bilateral relations with Nigeria to help it tackle terrorism, human
trafficking and poverty.
She
said: “I am here to strengthen our excellent bilateral ties which have
been historical for many years. We are ready to help in the areas of
terrorism, human trafficking and roll back poverty to enhance
international cooperation.”
She
also expressed confidence with Federal Government and civil society for
their efforts towards tackling terrorism, human trafficking in the
country.
According
to her, “in my capacity, I have had working sessions with civil
society, and government officials and it is very rare that people hear
positive appreciation regarding political agenda to end terrorism.”
Ekweremadu regrets death of Italian
Ekweremadu,
in his response, said terrorism and human trafficking were condemnable
evils that the Federal Government was battling to combat.
He
asked the Italian government for assistance in the area of capacity
building for security personnel, noting that government has made huge
budgetary provisions to combat terrorism.
His
words: “For us as a parliament, we condemn terrorism just as we condemn
human trafficking and we are doing everything possible with the
government to combat these two evils. Prior to 2010, terrorism was
completely unknown in Nigeria in any form and we have joined hands with
international communities to fight terrorism at the global level.”
“In
2012 budget we made substantial budgetary provision to provide
sufficient security architecture that will help us to combat terrorism.
We are trying to build capacity of our security agencies to deal with
the latest security challenges.
“Like
I said, we are never used to terrorism; we never believed that
terrorism will come to our land, now it seems to be with us. This calls
for help from those of you who are friends in the international
community to assist us, to help build capacity to get over terrorism.”
He
also regretted the death of an Italian national in 2012 in the hands of
kidnappers, saying, “The unfortunate incident about the death of
Italian citizen is something that is unfortunate; we use this
opportunity to condole you and your government about the unfortunate
incident.”
VANGUARD NG
