President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday sought greater support and cooperation from France and other friendly nations for his administration’s ongoing efforts to overcome the Boko Haram sect and restore normalcy to areas affected by the group’s atrocities.
Specifically, Buhari said Nigeria would appreciate more intelligence on the sect’s link with the Islamic States of Iraq and Syria.
According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the President made the request at a meeting he had with President Francois Hollande of France after his participation in Monday’s G-7 Outreach Programme in Elmau, Germany.
Shehu further quoted the President as saying that his administration would also appreciate more intelligence on the sect’s movements, training and sources of its arms and ammunition.
He said the intelligence was necessary to facilitate the perfection of fresh tactics and strategies being evolved to overcome terrorism and insurgency in the country and its sub-region.
The President reaffirmed his administration’s total commitment to ending Boko Haram’s insurgency in the shortest possible time.
He said his administration was already taking concrete action to build a more efficient and effective coalition of Nigeria and neighbouring countries against Boko Haram.
President Buhari reiterated, at the talks with his French counterpart, that there was absolutely no link between religion and the atrocities of Boko Haram.
“There is clearly no religious basis for the actions of the group. Their atrocities show that members of the group either do not know God at all or they don’t believe in him,” Buhari reportedly said.
In his remarks at the meeting, Hollande was said to have commended Buhari’s concerted efforts to galvanise Nigeria’s armed forces, security agencies and neighouring countries for more decisive action to eradicate Boko Haram.
The French leader assured Buhari that France will give Nigeria and its coalition partners greater support against terrorism and insecurity, including military and intelligence cooperation, to help them overcome the security challenge posed by Boko Haram and its global terrorist allies as quickly as possible.
He also called for greater bilateral cooperation between Nigeria and France in other areas including trade, economic and cultural relations.
Buhari also received similar pledges of enhanced support from Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada and Chancellor Angela Merkel who he also conferred with before departing from the venue of the G-7 2015 Summit.
The President is due back in Abuja early Tuesday.
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