The Federal Government
yesterday said the activities of
the Boko Haram insurgent
group are killing the economy
of the northern geo-political
zone.
Information Minister Labaran
Maku said the region was
further being impoverished.
He spoke after the weekly
Federal Executive Council
(FEC) meeting presided over
by President Goodluck
Jonathan.
Maku said: “Terrorism in
places like Kano is destroying
the North as it hits at the heart
of the development of the
region.”
He said the North was in need
of peace.
The minister said the region is
behind in infrastructure, in
literacy level, in industraliation
and other development
indices.
This, he said, has made it
imperative for northern
leaders, elders and other
stakeholders to rally round the
government and get involved
in bringing insurgency to an
end.
He said: “The attack on Kano is
so significant because Kano
has always been the
commercial centre of western
Sudan for the past 500 years.
Ever before the evolution of
Nigeria, Kano is the economy
of the North and the economy
of Niger Republic and it is the
economy of Chad; it is the
economy of northern
Cameroun. So, when you
destabilise Kano, you threaten
the foundation of economic
and social well being of all
northerners. So what has
happened is violence and this
is what we want all those
involved in it to understand
and all stakeholders in the
North and Nigeria to
understand that if any part of
this country is in need of peace
today, it is northern Nigeria.
“From all the statistics, we are
still behind in infrastructure, in
literacy level, in industraliation;
so, we need peace and this
peace will only be made
possible when all stakeholders
are involved and I have seen a
gradual process. You saw last
week that the Vice-President
had a meeting with all northern
governors and they agreed on
certain things. We also saw the
conference of the Arewa
Consultative Forum with all
traditional rulers and they also
agreed on certain things and
what we expect to evolve in
the months ahead is for those
decisions to be concretised in
terms of structures of
surveillance of community
cooperation and integration in
the search of peace in the
North.”
He added: “If you go and
attack Sokoto for example,
Sokoto is the spiritual
headquarters of all Muslims in
the country. The Sultan of
Sokoto is officially recognised
as the leader of Muslims in
Nigeria. He is the prime leader
and authority of Islam. So, if,
for example, anybody
threatens to attack Sokoto,
what is the benefit? And that is
why we continue to say that
we do not see much of religion
in what is happening, because
if Sokoto is virtually an Islamic
centre and the headquarters of
the Caliphate that spreads
Islam to most parts of Nigeria
and even Southwest, so if you
go and attack Sokoto, in what
way does it affect the cause of
Islam if it is Islam they are
fighting for?”
He said the Federal
Government’s approach to the
crisis has been consistent.
Maku said: “The first approach
that government has taken is
to develop the capacity to
contain it, to defeat it, to fight
it as it unfolds until we are able
to overcome it. You have seen
this in the last one year,
particularly the government
has consistently invested in
security and the results are
paying off. If you look at what
has gone on in the last few
months, you have seen that
gradually our intelligence
services, particularly, have
improved significantly in their
capacity and reach and a lot of
arrests are being made, almost
routinely.
“The whole issue about terror
is intelligence really. The
physical deployment of troops
is important but because we
are not fighting a standing
army, what is required is
intelligence and the Federal
Government has invested on it.
“In spite of all these, it is the
understanding of the Federal
Government that those
involved in terror attacks are
our children. Yes foreigners are
involved but they do so in
partnership or in collaboration
with some Nigerians and
because they are our citizens,
we have continued to call on
them to lay down their arms;
whatever grievances they have
can be better realised by
bringing those grievances in an
orderly way to the government
at all levels.
“Some of those grievances are
not even with the Federal
Government, but whatever
grievances that they have, the
mere fact that they have
grievances and they have
taken to violence pre-supposes
that we should listen to them,
in spite of the fact that as a
government we must defend
innocent citizens, some of
whom have lost their lives in
the course of these terror
attacks.
“But the President said we
must know who we are
dialoguing with because
members of this terror groups
operate underground and
because they operate
underground, talking to them is
a more difficult process.
“But the President has turned
in the olive branch. It is not a
happy thing for Nigeria to
deploy its military forces
against some of its citizens,
therefore it is not something
we are doing out of choice.”
On the Boko Haram tape aired
by the NTA, Maku said: “It
could be true, it could be false.
It takes more than having
names published or broadcast
by a group to establish the
veracity of the claims. We
don’t just take it on the pages
of newspapers because you
report a story; whether it is
NTA, radio or video, it takes
more than that to establish the
veracity of a claim. So, our
doors are open to every formal
channel of communication for
the evolution of a process that
should lead to a dialogue. So,
the government is clear; we
are ready to dialogue.”

www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/mobile/news/36244-boko-haram-is-killing-norths-economy%2C-says-fed-govt.html