President Goodluck Jonathan explained that it was not necessary for him to visit Chibok, Borno State because the girls were not in the school, noting that his interest was to locate and rescue the girls.
He said contrarily to perceptions, he was not averse to visiting scenes of bomb explosions as he had done so in the past, but that the case of Chibok was different since there was nobody in the school.
Fielding questions from journalists at the press conference at the end of the meeting held at Elysee Palace, President Jonathan while speaking on why he did not go to Chibok said, the service chiefs had already visited the area and his main concern was how to rescue the abducted girls.
“These girls are not held in Chibok. Sometime, people want the President to go to Chibok. If the President goes to Chibok today, it does not solve any problem. The problem facing the president and indeed the Nigerian government is how to get these girls from wherever they are,” he declared.
Jonathan also assured that the Nigerian military forces were being trained to develop the capacity to adequately deal with the threat of terror, noting that there were challenges because terrorism was a relatively new phenomenon in Nigeria.
He said the allegation of misappropriation of funds by the military was exaggerated even though he conceded that administrative lapses may have a part to play in the inadequate funding of the war against terror.
At the end of the summit presided over by the French President, Nigeria and its neighbours, agreed to build analysis and response capabilities that will contribute to enhancing the security of all populations and the rule of law in the areas affected by Boko Haram’s terrorist acts.
In order to combat the insurgents’ threat “which manifested itself through several murderous attacks and the abduction of more than 270 school girls, Nigeria and its neighbours have decided to immediately on a bilateral basis implement coordinated patrols with the aim of combating Boko Haram and locating the abducted schoolgirls.
“They are also to establish a system to pool intelligence in order to support this operation, establish mechanisms for information exchange on trafficking of weapons and bolster measures to secure weapons stockpiles while also establishing mechanism for border surveillance.”
France, US, Britain and the European Union pledged to mobilize donors in support of programmes fostering social economic development of the regions concerned with particular emphasis on gender equality and the rights of women and girls.
The participants agreed that the United Kingdom would host a follow up meeting next month at ministerial level to review progress on this action plan.
The leaders of Nigeria’s neighbours – Benin, Cameroon, Niger and Chad as well as representatives from the United States, United Kingdom and European Union attended the summit to discuss fresh strategies for dealing with the security threat posed by Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in West and Central Africa.
