Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has boasted that his government has made Nigeria far better than he met it in 2015 when he became president.
Buhari made the statement in an interview with Bloomberg in which he responded to a question about his administration’s record on fighting insecurity and corruption.
He asked his western allies, including the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA) to proscribe the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist organisation.
The president claimed that the country is safer than he met it in 2015, insisting that proscribing IPOB, a group canvassing secession of the southeast, will improve the situation.
His words, “We leave Nigeria in a far better place than we found it. Corruption is less hidden for Nigerians feel empowered to report it without fear, while money is returned; terrorists no longer hold any territory in Nigeria, and their leaders are deceased; and vast infrastructure development sets the country on course for sustainable and equitable growth.
“In 2015, Boko Haram held territory the size of Belgium within the borders of Nigeria. Today they are close to extinction as a military force. The leader of ISWAP was eliminated by a Nigerian Airforce airstrike in March. The jets acquired from the US and intelligence shared by the British were not provided to previous administrations and stand as testament to renewed trust re-built between Nigeria and our traditional western allies under my government.
“We urge those same international partners to take additional steps costing them nothing, by proscribing another group – IPOB – as a terrorist organisation. Their leadership enjoys safe haven in the West, broadcasting hate speech into Nigeria from London, spending millions lobbying members of the US Congress, and freely using international financial networks to arm agitators on the ground. This must stop.
“My administration is the only in Nigeria’s history to implement a solution to decades-long herder-farmer conflicts, exacerbated by desertification and demographic growth. The National Livestock Transformation Plan, putting ranching at its core, is the only way to deplete the competition for resources at the core of the clashes. Governors from some individual states have sought to play politics where ranches have been established; but where there have been disputes have dramatically reduced.”