Boko Haram no longer has the capability to occupy North-East, says Pres. Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said that the fight
against corruption is aimed at saving the soul of the
nation. Buhari who was represented by Vice President, Prof.
Yemi Osinbajo, made this statement at the second plenary
meeting of Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria
(CBCN), near Port Harcourt.
He said:
" Our fight against corruption is not just a battle of
virtue and righteousness in our land, but it is a fight
for the soul and substance of our nation.
" Corruption in our country is endemic and it
constitutes a parallel system," he said. According to
the President, corruption has made a potentially
prosperous country struggle to feed and provide
jobs for its people.
" Hundreds of thousands of infants and maternal
mortality statistics, hundreds of thousands deaths
from communicable diseases are traceable to the
greed and corruption of a few," he said. Buhari
urged Nigerians to think of resuscitating the
nation`s economy because two-thirds of Nigerians
lived in extreme poverty.
"They must be helped, first to survive, and then,
fully participate in the economy of the
nation. "Consequently, we must create tenets for
the very poor and vulnerable, while ensuring that
social spending also resurrects investments in the
economy. "We must invest substantially in relevant
education; teachers training and vocational and
entrepreneurial training," Buhari said.
The President said a way out, was for all Nigerians to invest
in infrastructure and all crucial components in the medium
and long term means of diversifying the economy.
He continued by saying:
"Meanwhile, we must block all leakages and
improve on our revenue base," he said. On
insurgency, Buhari said Boko Haram had been
weakened and lacked the strength to occupy the
North-East zone or any part of the country.
He also said the military was using local intelligence to
thwart efforts of Boko Haram to regroup in the North-East
or any part of the country.
He said:
"On security, we are on course to militarily route
Boko Haram and make them incapable of taking
over any territory. "Suicide bombings on some parts
of the North- East are desperate acts of terrorists to
create a sense that they are still in play.
"But, with vigilance and local intelligence, we will
make these cowardly acts practically impossible,"
he said. Earlier, the President of CBCN, Most Rev.
Ignatius Kaigama, said that the new administration
in the country would recover the country`s wasted
opportunities.
Kaigama, who is the Archbishop of Jos, said the church will
continue to pray for Nigeria. He said:
"The tendency to promote, defend, and protect
narrow personal economic, regional and religious
interests have been responsible for our unstable
national journey of one step forward and many steps
backward," he said Kaigama expressed optimism
that the new administration would achieve positive
change and recover wasted opportunities.
Vanguard