By Cross Udo, Abuja
President of Niger Republic, Mohammed Bazoum, yesterday said leaders in the Sahel including Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso were considering the replication of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) to fight terrorists in the region.
Bazoum stated this while fielding questions from State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He said he discussed economic and security issues of mutual benefit to both countries with President Buhari, adding that his visit coincided with a big operation taking place in the Lake Chad Basin region against the terrorists.
“MNJTF, the Multinational Joint Task Force, is a model initiated by countries that are facing the same kind of security challenges and we want to replicate this kind of model in countries of the Sahel, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and so on will replicate this kind of model.
“This model has allowed us in the Lake Chad Basin region to address common threats and we are very much satisfied with the situation because it has allowed us to contain it and we want to replicate the same in our countries.”
Bazoum also disclosed that he discussed the Kano-Katsina-Maradi railway project with Buhari, adding that the project would integrate the economies of both countries.
“We also spoke about the gas pipeline in the sense that gas and oil now have become an issue in world politics, in the world economy,” he said
Also speaking to journalists, the Borno state governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, said that the insurgency situation in his state had reduced by about 80 per cent following the surrender by some of the Boko Haram terrorists.
Zulum was reacting to criticisms against the government’s decision to rehabilitate and reintegrate those Boko Haram members who chose to lay down their arms and embrace peace in the state.
Buhari directs Police, security agencies to end cult killings in Ogun
He said, “In Borno State, these people voluntarily surrendered by themselves. There is no provision, no law in the whole world, which states that those that have voluntarily surrendered shall be killed.
“And because of this surrender, amongst others, the insurgency situation Borno State has been reduced by about 80 per cent. We also became resilient enough to fight them. Involvement of civilian JTF, community resilience, enhancing peacebuilding, social cohesion, and stability are some of the things that we need to do to reduce insurgency.”
On what the country needed to do to stem banditry in the North West, the governor said it was important to enhance the means of livelihood of the people, especially those in the North.
According to him, the underlying causes of insurgency in the part of the country were poverty, increasing infrastructure deficit, and climate vulnerabilities.
Commenting on the meeting between Buhari and the Nigerien leader, Zulum said he was happy that Bazoum raised the point of the need to strengthen the MNJTF.
Similarly, while speaking on his handling of banditry in Zamfara State, Governor Bello Matawale, said he changed strategy by subscribing to a joint task force with Nigerien security forces to push off the terrorists.
