Being an opinion article by President-elect,
General Muhammadu Buhari, as published in
yesterday’s edition of New York Times.
ABUJA— When Boko Haram attacked a school in
the town of Chibok, in northeastern Nigeria,
kidnapping more than 200 girls, on the night of
April 14, 2014, the people of my country were
aghast.
Across the world, millions of people joined them
in asking: How was it possible for this terrorist
group to act with such impunity? It took nearly
two weeks before the government even
commented on the crime.
This lack of reaction was symptomatic of why
the administration of President Goodluck
Jonathan was swept aside last month – the first
time an incumbent president has been
successfully voted out of office in the history of
our nation.
For too long they ruled, not governed, and in
doing so had become so focused on their own
self-interest and embroiled in corruption that the
duty to react to the anguish suffered by their
citizens had become alien to them.
My administration, which will take office on May
29, will act differently – indeed it is the very
reason we have been elected. This must begin
with honesty as to whether the Chibok girls can
be rescued. Currently their whereabouts remain
unknown.
We do not know the state of their health or
welfare, or whether they are even still together
or alive.
As much as I wish to, I cannot promise that we
can find them: to do so would be to offer
unfounded hope, only to compound the grief if,
later, we find we cannot match such
expectation.
But I say to every parent, family member and
friend of the children that my government will do
everything in its power to bring them home.
What I can pledge, with absolute certainty, is
that from the first day of my administration,
Boko Haram will know the strength of our
collective will and commitment to rid this nation
of terror, and bring back peace and normalcy to
all the affected areas.
Until now, Nigeria has been wanting in its
response to their threat: With our neighbours
fighting hard to push the terrorists south and out
of their countries, our military was not
sufficiently supported or equipped to push north.
As a consequence, the outgoing government’s
lack of determination was an accidental enabler
of the group, allowing them to operate with
impunity in Nigerian territory.
That is why the answer to defeating Boko Haram
begins and ends with Nigeria. That is not to say
that allies cannot help us.
My administration would welcome the
resumption of a military training agreement with
the United States, which was halted during the
previous administration.
We must, of course, have better coordination
with the military campaigns our African allies,
like Chad and Niger, are waging in the struggle
against Boko Haram.
But, in the end, the answer to this threat must
come from within Nigeria.
We must start by deploying more troops to the
front and away from civilian areas in central and
southern Nigeria where for too long they have
been used by successive governments to quell
dissent.
We must work closer with our neighbors in
coordinating our military efforts so an offensive
by one army does not see their country’s lands
rid of Boko Haram only to push it across the
border onto their neighbors’ territory.
But as our military pushes Boko Haram back, as
it will, we must be ready to focus on what else
must be done to counter the terrorists.
We must address why it is that young people join
Boko Haram. There are many reasons why
vulnerable young people join militant groups, but
among them are poverty and ignorance.
Indeed Boko Haram – which translates in
English, roughly, as “Western Education Is Sinful”
– preys on the perverted belief that the
opportunities that education brings are sinful.
Promise of food
If you are starving and young, and in search of
answers as to why your life is so difficult,
fundamentalism can be alluring.
We know this for a fact because former
members of Boko Haram have admitted it: They
offer impressionable young people money and
the promise of food, while the group’s mentors
twist their minds with fanaticism.
So we must be ready to offer the parts of our
country affected by this group an alternative.
Boosting education will be a direct
counterbalance to Boko Haram’s appeal. In
particular we must educate more young girls,
ensuring they will grow up to be empowered
through learning to play their full part as citizens
of Nigeria and pull themselves up and out of
poverty.
Indeed, we owe it to the schoolgirls of Chibok to
provide as best an education as possible for
their fellow young citizens.
Boko Haram feeds off despair. It feeds off a lack
of hope that things can improve. By attacking a
site of learning, and kidnapping more than 200
schoolgirls, it sought to strike at the very place
where hope for the future is nurtured, and the
promise of a better Nigeria.
It is our intention to show Boko Haram that it
will not succeed. My government will first act to
defeat it militarily and then ensure that we
provide the very education it despises to help
our people help themselves.
Boko Haram will soon learn that, as Nelson
Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful
weapon which you can use to change the world.”
Source: Vanguard
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