President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday met with some security chiefs to marshal the country’s plans to be presented at a meeting of the Lake Chad Basin Commission in Abuja on Thursday.
The National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.); Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Ismail Aliyu; Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh; and Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin attended the meeting, which held inside the Defence House in Abuja.
Aliyu briefed State House correspondents at the end of the meeting which lasted for about two hours.
He said they discussed issues relating to the operationalisation of the Multinational Joint Task Force and the contributions of each member state.
He said the President, at the meeting, reiterated his desire to end insurgency in the country and the region in shortest possible time.
Aliyu said, “We came to brief Mr. President on the meeting of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, which the Head of States are attending on Thursday (tomorrow).
“The arrangement of the meeting held between the Chiefs of Defence Staff of the Lake Chad Basin and Ministers of Defence, which is culminating in the President’s meeting on Thursday.
“We have discussed the issue of the operationalisation of the Multinational Joint Task Force and the citing of its headquarters in N’Djamena (capital of Chad) and the contribution from various states.
“This is with the objective of fighting the insurgency within that region. Some issues came out that the President identified, he wants us to see the end of this fight for the purpose of peace, security and prosperity of the region.”
Meanwhile, the LCBC said it had articulated an emergency development programme of about N13bn to complement the ongoing war against Boko Haram in the North-East areas affected by the insurgency.
The Executive Secretary of the LCBC, Sanusi Abdullahi, said this at the meeting of Ministers of Defence, Chiefs of Defence Staff of the LCBC member states and Benin in Abuja on Tuesday.
He noted that the head of states and governments of LCBC member states had directed the Commission to develop an emergency development initiative on the Boko Haram security threat.
According to him, the head of states and governments of LCBC member states had also directed that the development initiative should be implemented in areas affected by the insurgency.
He said, “We have therefore articulated an emergency development programme for the sum of 38.5bn francs or about N1bn and the money will be implemented as follows: Region of Lac and Hadjar Lamis in Chad Republic, Far North Region of Cameroon, Regions of Diffa and Zinder in Niger Republic.
“Other areas where the development would be implemented include states of Borno, Adamawa, Gombe, Bauchi, Jigawa and Kano in Nigeria.”
Abdullahi stated that the overall objective of the programme, which would last for 18 months in the first phase, was the reduction of poverty through the implementation of development activities in the regions.
The initiative, he added, would also combat the causes and conditions that precipitated insecurity.
“It will also strengthen the capacity of youth, women and vulnerable groups by financing social and professional integration skill acquisition,” he explained. – Punch.
