President Muhammadu Buhari has stated that terrorism in West Africa has been aggravated by the collapse of the Ghaddafi regime in Libya.
Buhari was speaking in Malta late Friday at a banquet hosted by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II for Heads of State and Government participating in the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, was also in attendance.
President Buhari informed the gathering of efforts by Nigeria and other members of the Lake Chad Basin Commission to curb the menace of the Boko Haram insurgency.
“We have agreed to a joint task-force for the elimination of Boko Haram, but it may not be easy, especially after the events in Libya when trained people with weapons moved back to Sahel region from where they were recruited by the former Libyan leader. Those weapons and expertise in their use are now aggravating the situation in the Sahel and further south”, he said.
Buhari called for the establishment of a Commonwealth Committee to oversee the rendering of greater assistance and support to Nigeria and other member-countries which had been adversely affected by the scourge of terrorism.
The president expressed optimism that the committee would have been established before the next meeting of the organisation.
He said he also expected the committee to visit member-countries of the Commonwealth where terrorist organisations had established a foothold with a view to evolving practical strategies for more meaningful assistance to the affected countries.
Buhari urged the Commonwealth to show greater resolve in helping Nigeria and other developing nations in its ranks to overcome the challenges of economic development, security, terrorism and corruption.
“With the improvement of global communications, terrorism has no borders now. What happened recently in France had a profound effect on all of us, but very few countries realize that Nigeria has suffered terrorist casualties of over 10,000 killed in the last six years.
“Right now, we have over two million internally displaced persons, most of whom are women and children, and most of the children are orphans”, Buhari told the Queen and Commonwealth Heads of State and Government.
Calling for greater international support for Nigeria and other countries affected by terrorism, Buhari expressed his government’s appreciation of the assistance already being received from the Commonwealth, Britain, the Group of Seven Industrialised Nations, France and the United States.
“I am grateful to Britain, France and the United States. They have already sent teams to train the Nigeria Military and Police in the control of terrorism. The Commonwealth has helped us in so many ways by the visible support they have been giving to help us overcome the problem of terrorism”, he said.