Teddy Oscar, Abuja
The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has lamented that the continued onslaught of the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East is hampering the national development efforts of the Federal Government in the country.
Ekweremadu, who made the lamentation while reacting to the renewed terrorist attacks by the insurgents, expressed serious concern that the activities of the Islamist sect has become a threat to national development, as well as injurious to the image of the country at the international community.
The nefarious activities of the insurgents had abated towards the end of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan but unfortunately resurface and gained more momentum as soon as President Muhammadu Buhari took over the reigns of power.
Ekweremadu pointed out that there could never be any meaningful development in the country when there is no peace and security of lives and property of the citizenry.
“There is no way we can have progress in the country when there are security problems. The first thing we need to do as a government is to deal with this security challenge no matter what it would cost us. And this is an area where the executive and the legislature must come together, we must be on the same page on this matter.
“I believe that it is time for us to have meetings with the executive, as well as the security agencies in order to find out exactly what has happened – why the resurgence of these Boko Haram activities and what we can do as a people to ensure that this matter is dealt with decisively,” he said.
Ekweremadu, who expressed sympathy with the victims of Boko Haram activities also said, expressed confidence in Buhari’s ability to tackle the situation.
“We believe our President would sit on top of this situation because we believe, that Nigerians are worried about this situation and they would like to see an end to Boko Haram activities,” he said.
He further stressed the need to encourage the President and provide the necessary support to bring the situation to an end and restore peace in the North-East and all parts of Nigeria.
He tasked the government to be aggressive in addressing the actual cause of the insurgency before the situation deteriorated further.
“I do hope that we would be able to work together to find solution to this and come to the end of this Boko Haram activities. I am worried about the insurgence of the Boko Haram activities in Nigeria. Shortly before the inauguration of the present government, the country had almost rolled back Boko Haram and its activities in every part of Nigeria – from Adamawa to Borno to Yobe.
“And I was hoping that when we come back in the 8th Assembly, that I will work with our colleagues from the North-East to develop a plan of action that will help to rehabilitate that part of Nigeria.
“I had hope that by now we would be tasking ourselves on how best to rebuild that part of Nigeria. Regrettably, the actions of Boko Haram seem to have resurfaced now, not only in Borno but in Plateau, Adamawa and Kaduna. I am worried that if nothing is done, the next target would be Abuja and then the southern part of the country.
“It is important for us as those in government whether executive or legislature to come together to find solutions to these problems. So, I will like to use this opportunity to appeal to our friends, our neighbours and the international community to support Nigeria to ensure that we roll back the activities of Boko Haram.
“It is not giving us any good image, it is damaging our reputation all over the world, it is damaging our lives, it is damaging our properties. It has disoriented our brothers and sisters in the North-East. The education has suffered there, even the economy of the place has suffered so much, and our brothers and sisters from other part of the country that lived there have since left the place. It is a big challenge we must all come together to deal with,” he said.
He, however, assured the international community that the challenge though enormous is not beyond the control of the government and people of Nigeria.
It is currently recorded that the activities of the sect have displaced over 1.4 million Nigerians while tens of thousands have been killed through acts of vandalism and pillaging, bomb explosion, raids and gun attacks, as well as rape and abduction.
