President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said that the Federal Government had begun negotiations with members of the Boko Haram sect to secure the release of the Chibok girls.
The President disclosed this while responding to questions from members of the Nigerian community in France under the aegis of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation.
Buhari said that he was worried by the continued stay of the girls in the camps of Boko Haram since April 14, 2014 when they were abducted by Boko Haram fighters.
The President noted that the incident had attracted global attention and sympathy within Nigeria, adding that his government could not fold its arms.
“The issue of Chibok girls has occupied our minds and because of the international attention it drew and the sympathy throughout the the world. The government is negotiating with some of the Boko Haram leadership,” he stated.
According to him, government has to first establish genuine members of the sect so that it will not make the mistake of engaging the wrong persons.
“It is a very sensitive development in the sense that first we have to establish whether they genuine leaders of Boko Haram? That is number one. Number two, what are their terms, the first impression we had was not very encouraging,” he stated.
The President said one of the conditions given by Boko Haram sect was to release one of its members who was developing Improvised Explosives Devices.
He, however, said that his government rejected the demand.
“They wanted us to release one of their leaders who is a strategic person in developing and making IEDs that is causing a lot of havoc in the country by blowing people in churches, mosques, market places, motor parks and other places. But it is very important that if we are going to talk to anybody, we have to know how much he is worth.
“Let them bring all the girls and then, we will be prepared to negotiate, I will allow them to come back to Nigeria or to be absorbed into the community. We have to be very careful, the concern we have for the Chibok girls, one can only imagine having a daughter who is between 14 and 18 years there for more than one and a half years. A lot of the parents who have died would have preferred to see the graves of their daughters to the condition they imagined they were in,” Buhari said.
According to him, the kidnap of the girls has drawn a lot of sympathy throughout the world. This, he said, was the reason government was negotiating for the release of the girls.
President Buhari assured Nigerians in the Diaspora that his administration was doing everything possible to improve the economy through provision of infrastructure in critical sectors.
Meanwhile, Buhari has assured investors in France and other parts of the globe of his administration’s commitment to provide a suitable business environment that would boost economic activities and create jobs for Nigerian youths.
The President said his decision to approach headlong, the issue of insecurity within the early days of his government was to ensure the safety of all citizens and guarantee enabling environment for both local and foreign investors.
He stated this on Monday while addressing a gathering of investors at the Nigerian-France presidential business forum, which held at the headquarters of the French Business Confederation in Paris.
Buhari explained that Nigeria and France, who already have a cordial trade partnership, needed to promote a win-win sustainable business relationship.
He recalled the long standing economic ties between the two countries, which, he said, dates back as far as 1902, when the Compagnie Française de l’Afrique Occidentale set up a training programme in Lagos.
He assured that his government would rebuild Nigeria into a competitive, virile, productive economy “based on excellence, integrity, transparency, accountability and respect for the rule of law.”
The President said, “It is a positive development that today Nigeria is the largest trading partner with France in Africa. But opportunities abound to greatly increase the current $5billion annual trade volume and I fully agree with President Hollande when he declared in February, 2014 in Abuja, that trade volume between both countries should double in four years.”
According to him, trade expansion is to cover critical areas, such as agriculture, energy, automobile and skill development.
President Buhari told the investors that his government would spare no effort to sustain Nigeria’s credentials as the preferred and number one investment destination in Africa as well as the country with the fourth highest investment returns in the world.
The President thanked Mr. Pierre Gattaz, President of the Movement of French Entrepreneurs, organizers of the French-Nigeria Business Forum for mobilising the platform.
Earlier in his remarks, Gattaz had indicated the interest of French businessmen in the Nigerian economy, being the biggest in Africa.
