‘No Territory In Nigeria Is Controlled By Boko Haram’- President Buhari Speaks

‘No Territory In Nigeria Is Controlled By Boko Haram’- President Buhari Speaks

President Buhari has said that no territory in Nigeria is controlled by the Boko Haram terrorist group.

The
President stated this at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East
and North Africa. He explained that there has been a significant
improvement in the fight against insurgency since his administration
came into power.

“We made significant gains in fighting Boko
Haram. We have recaptured all territories held by Boko Haram in 2014. We
have liberated thousands of Nigerians held against their will. Today, I
am pleased to say no territory in the Federal Republic of Nigeria is
held or controlled by Boko Haram”, the President said.

According
to him, the Buhari-led administration in the last four years has been
focusing on security and the implementation of other inclusive policies.
“In the last four years, we focused on security while implementing
inclusive policies”.

Read The Full Speech Below….

Protocols:

Permit
me to start by thanking His Majesty, King Abdallah Bin Hussein of
Jordan, for the special invitation to speak to you briefly at this
event.

2. I also want to congratulate the World Economic Forum for
organizing this forum with the theme of “Building New Platforms of
Cooperation”.

3. In this digital age where physical borders no
longer exist to protect even the most secured nations, the only way to
overcome predatory and divisionary forces is for all well-meaning
nations to work together for the greater good of mankind.

4. Simply put, cooperation amongst sovereign nations is no longer a choice. It is an absolute necessity.

5. In the last ten years, the world as we knew it has completely changed.

6.
We have seen and experienced significant shifts on many fronts. In
Technology; Population and Migration; Trade and Geopolitics; Climate
change; and many more.

7. For some nations, these trends have had
positive impacts. But of course, we have also seen the negative and
destructive outcomes of these trends in other countries.

8. It is
my view, that no region of the world has felt the full impact of these
dramatic shifts and shocks like the Middle East and Africa – North and
Sub-Sahara.

9. On one hand, our region is blessed with a very
young, vibrant, enterprising and dynamic population. We also have
valuable natural resources that are the envy of many nations.

10. These assets and endowments contributed to our region experiencing some of the highest economic growth rates in the world.

11.
On the other hand however, we have also been hosts to some of the
deadliest conflicts in recent history. The deaths, damage and
destruction caused by terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, ISIS and Boko
Haram over the last ten years will take decades to repair.

12. By
the special grace of God, today, most of these terrorist organizations
have been significantly degraded. The world came together to achieve
this. Now, we are faced with the task of rebuilding.

13. It is at
this point that we must ask ourselves how we, as a region, got to this
point. The answer, at least in the case of Nigeria, is the lack of
social and economic inclusion.

14. As Nigeria celebrated being the
largest economy in Africa and one of the fastest growing economies in
the world, Nigerians were migrating in droves through harsh desert
conditions and across treacherous seas to seek what they believe would
be a better life in Europe.

15. Ladies and gentlemen, I strongly
believe that the lack of social and economic inclusion was the root
cause of many challenges we are experiencing.

16. Today, our
population is one hundred and ninety million people. By 2050, it is
estimated that we hit three hundred and ninety million making us the
third most populous country in the world. This means we must start
working now to ensure this population is productively engaged.
17. In the last four years, we focused on security while implementing inclusive policies.

18.
On the security front, we made significant gains in fighting Boko
Haram. We have recaptured all territories held by Boko Haram in 2014. We
have liberated thousands of Nigerians held against their will.

19. Today, I am pleased to say no territory in the Federal Republic of Nigeria is held or controlled by Boko Haram.
20. We are extremely grateful to the many countries that have stood
with Nigeria to confront this global scourge and in particular, the
Kingdom of Jordan under the leadership of His Majesty, the King.

21.
Furthermore, our economic diversification and social inclusion policies
are also yielding positive results. Our country has now returned to the
path of growth. We are making gains in the ease of doing business
indices.

22. A key driver for growth is the agricultural sector
where we aggressively pushed agricultural policies that empowered
millions of our rural citizens.

23. In the spirit of “Building New
Platforms of Cooperation”, we partnered with the Kingdom of Morocco to
domesticate fertilizer production in Nigeria and revive over two million
tons of abandoned fertilizer blending plant capacity.

24. The
outcome is we created tens of thousands of jobs in agriculture,
logistics, manufacturing and retail sectors. We are able to achieve
moderate growth. But it was inclusive.

25. Nigeria is now at a new
dawn and embarking on a new development trajectory. We are determined
to industrialise Nigeria leveraging our comparative advantage.

26.
We recognize the private sector as the engine of growth and a veritable
partner in our economic agenda. The Middle East is a natural partner.

27.
Africa and the Middle East must therefore focus on policies that will
deliver shared economic prosperity for all our citizens. On trade and
investments for example, we can do more. Africa represents only five
percent of Jordan’s trade with the world. But we have the resources, the
people and the markets to do more.
28. Opportunities exist in key
job creating sectors such as Agriculture, Health, Tourism, ICT,
Infrastructure as well as Textile and garmenting to mention a few.

29.
Our new, inclusive and diversified Nigeria is definitely open for
business. Our population, resources, policies and programs make it the
most attractive investment destination in Africa.

30. As friends
and allies, we must therefore cooperate and leverage on our relative
strengths. We must remain open to “Building New Platforms of
Cooperation”.

31. As we deliberate over the next two days, I would
ask all leaders present to reflect on our collective experiences. We
must identify how we can work together.

32. Today, we are living in a new world.

33.
In this new world without borders, my personal view is stability and
sustainability can only be achieved through inclusive economic growth,
and enhanced cooperation amongst nations.

34. I thank you all for listening and I wish you a very successful and productive summit.