Amid protests back home, Buhari promises world leaders full rehabilitation for IDPs

President Muhammadu Buhari has assured that Nigeria will diligently ensure full rehabilitation of victims of Boko Haram and find lasting solutions to combat threats of terrorism in the country.

The President’s assurance is coming on the heels of growing disenchantment among Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs in the Northeast.

The IDPs, who have endured diversion of food supplies meant for them amidst growing manutrition and deaths occasioned by same, took to the streets on Thursday in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital to protest against hunger in their camps.

The angry IDPs barricaded, in their hundreds, the city’s main entry, leading to massive gridlock on the Kano-Maiduguri road.

 

However, President Buhari who spoke at the opening of the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI), in Nairobi, Kenya, insisted that the Boko Haram terrorists have been degraded and that the reintegration of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in the country will receive immediate attention.

“The bottom line is that these problems are our primary responsibility. We must tackle them and find lasting solutions for ourselves,’’ he said.

The conference has the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, 35 African leaders ant the chief executives of 80 major companies from Japan present.

According to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Shehu Garba, Buhari also told the summit that international cooperation with Nigeria was central in the decimation of Boko Haram terror group.

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”I took over the mantle of leadership in Nigeria when the North-Eastern part of the country was being ravaged by Boko Haram.

”However, soon after assumption of office, our administration with the support of our immediate neighbours — Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin- and international partners including Japan, faced the challenge frontally. `

”As I speak, the terror group has been decimated and life is beginning to return to normal in the affected region. The challenge we currently face which is also being addressed, is that of the IDPs which number over two million to get them re-integrated with their families and their original homes,’’ the president said.

Speaking on global health issues, a major focal point of the summit, President Buhari appreciated the government of Japan for its contribution of 800 million Dollars to the fight against malaria, tuberculosis among others.

On the gains of TICAD, the President noted that partnerships between Africa and Japan will help create and improve investment opportunities in industries, agriculture, information technology, science and technology among others for the good of the continent and investors from Japan.

”In view of the challenges Africa is facing, the imperative for a viable partnership like the Tokyo International Conference on African Development cannot be over emphasized.

”Today, many countries in Africa including the oil producing ones are wisely seeking to diversify their economies away from mono-cropping.

”In Nigeria, our Administration has already taken concrete steps to diversify the economy by making agriculture not just a development programme but a thriving business.

”Investing in the economies of this continent especially through Public-Private-Partnership can contribute to building capacity for our economies,” he said.

By Timothy Enietan-Matthews

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