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Tag: boko haram

  • Boko Haram: Troops arrest three more suspected female terrorists

    Boko Haram: Troops arrest three more suspected female terrorists

    •Lay siege to Sambisa Forest routes

    Ghe Defence Headquarters (DHQ) yesterday said that troops have arrested three suspected female terrorists allegedly recruiting ladies for the female wing of Boko Haram.

    The three suspects were named as Hafsat Usman Bako, Zainab Idris and Aisha Abubakar.

    The DHQ, which made the claim in a statement signed on behalf of the Director of Defence Information by Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, said the suspects were intercepted on their way to the dreaded Sambisa Forest.

    The statement said: “In the aftermath of the failed suicide bombing attempt on a military facility by a female terrorist who blew herself up in Gombe recently, troops have arrested three suspected female terrorists who have been secretly recruiting ladies into the female wing of the terrorists group.

    “The suspects, Hafsat Usman Bako, Zainab Idris and Aisha Abubakar, were intercepted while travelling to Madagali from where they were to transit to the forest to reunite with their cohorts.

    “Investigations revealed that the suspects, led by Hafsat Bako, have the mission to recruit members into the female wing as well as conduct espionage for the group.

    “Hafsat’s link with the terrorists group had earlier been a subject of investigation in 2012, when security agents on a manhunt for one Usman Bako, her husband who was identified as a terrorist, stormed their residence in Jimeta.

    “This resulted in the discovery of an AK 47 rifle and two loaded magazines. Though Usman Bako later died in an encounter with troops in Sokoto where he had relocated to continue his terrorist activities, Hafsat continued with the terror group specialising in surreptitious recruitment of members into their fold.”

    The statement said the suspects specialised in hiring widows and young girls under the guise of marrying them off to good homes.

    The statement added: “The arrested three suspects were luring ladies, especially widows and young girls, by enticing them with male suitors who are mainly members of their terror group for marriage.

    “Before their arrest, they were on a mission to take additional briefing from the leadership of the terror group.

    “The three suspects have been operating together as members of the intelligence team of the group. Their arrest has yielded information still being verified by security agencies.”

    A reliable military source, who spoke in confidence, said as part of the “proposed final onslaught against Boko Haram by the military, troops have been mobilised to all routes leading to Sambisa Forest.

    “Coded as frontline zones, the siege on the routes had enabled the troops to arrest one of the masterminds of the abduction of the 223 Chibok girls, Businessman Babuji Ya’ari, and two women serving as spies for Boko Haram, Hafsat Bako and Haj Kaka. These three were actually going to Sambisa Forest.

    “The strategy is to embark on pre-emptive steps to limit link with Boko Haram.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “We are ready to take the battle to Sambisa Forest. But we want to avoid as much collateral damage as possible. Our real mission is to liberate the abducted girls alive.”

  • Three suspected female terrorists arrested

    Three suspected female terrorists arrested

    The Defence Headquarters on Friday confirmed that troops have arrested three suspected female terrorists allegedly recruiting for the female wing of Boko Haram.

    The three suspects are – Hafsat Usman Bako, Zainab Idris and Aisha Abubakar.

    The DHQ which made the claim in a statement signed by Col. Onyema Nwachukwu on behalf of the Director of Defence Information said the suspects were intercepted on their way to the dreaded Sambisa Forest.

    The statement said: “In the aftermath of the failed suicide bombing attempt on a military facility by a female terrorist who blew herself up in Gombe recently, troops have arrested three suspected female terrorists who have been secretly recruiting ladies into the female wing of the terrorists group.

    “The suspects –  Hafsat Usman Bako, Zainab Idris and Aisha Abubakar were intercepted while traveling to Madagali from where they were to transit to the forest to reunite with their cohorts.

    “Investigations revealed that the suspects, led by Hafsat Bako, have the mission to recruit members into the female wing as well as conduct espionage for the group.

    “Hafsat’s link with the terrorists group had earlier been a subject of investigation in 2012, when security agents on a man-hunt for one Usman Bako, her husband who was identified as a terrorist, stormed their residence in Jimeta.

    “This resulted in the discovery of an AK 47 rifle and two loaded magazines. Though Usman Bako later died in an encounter with troops in Sokoto where he had relocated to continue his terrorist activities, Hafsat continued with the terror group specializing in surreptitious recruitment of members into their fold.”

    The statement said the suspects specialized in hiring widows and young girls under the guise of marrying them off to good homes.

    The statement added: “The arrested suspects were luring ladies especially widows and young girls by enticing them with male suitors who are mainly members of their terror group for marriage.

    “Before their arrest, they were on a mission to take additional briefing from the leadership of the terror group.

    “The three suspects have been operating together as members of the intelligence team of the group. Their arrest has yielded information still being verified by security agencies.”

  • Boko Haram: North in a state of hopelessness – ACF

    The pan northern socio-political organization, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) said Wednesday the current state of insecurity in the region has placed it in a state of despair and hopelessness.

    In a statement signed by its the National Publicity Secretary, Muhammad Ibrahim and made available to The Nation in Kaduna, the Forum describe as wicked, gruesome and condemnable, Monday’s bomb attack on a market in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

    ACF appealed to the insurgents to embrace civilized ways of addressing perceived grievances and seek dialogue with the government as violence has never address any misgiving.

    The statement reads: “The bomb blast that occurred on Monday morning at the Maiduguri market in Borno State was wicked, gruesome and condemnable considering the huge number of children and old women that were killed in the blast and also the destruction of property it caused.

    “In the last 10 days, over 100 people were killed in various bomb blasts in Borno, Abuja, Kano, Bauchi and Kaduna.  Many states in the northern region including Abuja have witnessed and experienced too many bomb blasts in the last five years which had killed many innocent lives, displaced many people, brought untold hardship on the citizens and distorted the economic life of the region.

    “In fact, the insecurity situation has placed the region in a state of despair and hopelessness despite the effort of the military and other security agencies in combating the insurgency.

    “The activities of the Boko Haram insurgents, unknown gunmen and other criminals in the north are most unfortunate as innocent people have continued to suffer unjustly for  perceived grievances which they know nothing about.”

  • Obanikoro, PDP aiding Boko Haram, says Tinubu

    Obanikoro, PDP aiding Boko Haram, says Tinubu

    National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has accused Minister of State for Defence Musiliu Obanikoro and the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) of aiding Boko Haram.

    In a statement last night by his Special Adviser on Media Sunday Dare, Tinubu said: “the PDP government should step forward and explain to Nigerians why the over 200 girls kidnapped in Chibok are yet to be rescued. They should explain why the Boko Haram insurgency continues unabated despite billions of naira that is being voted for security.

    “The defence budget to fight Boko Haram and terrorism has become a conduit pipe for the ruling party PDP just as the likes of Obanikoro continue to use Boko Haram as a tool of blackmail against the opposition. This time , just like it failed in the past, it will not stick. It will not stand. It is the PDP-led government in which Obanikoro is an active and pliable agent that is perpetrating the insurgency for pecuniary benefits. This government has no shame. It lacks the moral authority to point fingers at individuals or the opposition. The country is literally on tenterhooks and all the PDP can do is lie to Nigerians in order to cover up its failures.

    “Obanikoro’s allegation that Tinubu and his friends in the opposition created Boko Haram is both fallacious and untenable. It is the kind of fable that can only come  out of the mouth of someone who is delusional. One whose intoxication with power is not in  doubt. This allegation is both unreasonable and unsustainable, but not surprising coming from the person it came from. Bola Tinubu and the APC have been on record repeatedly condemning killings and bombings by Boko Haram and proffering solutions to the menace.

    “The PDP is preparing the grounds for its next round of hounding opposition leaders, militarising our cities and violating the democratic rights of Nigerians to move freely. This is political Boko Haram of which the PDP is the Chief Architect.

    “In Ekiti, we saw a dress rehearsal of the impunity and near brigandage of this government and its agents. Nigerians are urged to be vigilant before a few desperate persons steal our voices, our rights, our liberties and freedoms.”

  • Group protests release of Boko Haram suspects

    A group known as Igbo World Union (IWU) has expressed its resentment over the alleged release of 114 of the 486 detained Boko Haram suspects arrested penultimate Sunday in Abia en route to Port Harcourt.

    Speaking with news men in Umuahia, the President-General of the group, Chief Mishak Nnanta, said alleged release of the suspects was a bad omen, adding that their release posed a great danger to the Southeast geo-political zone.

    Nnanta who spoke against the alleged gradual release of the suspects said: “Nigeria is playing with fire if indeed some people among those 486 suspects and their release posed grave danger to our lives and national unity since they would have been freed in haste.”

    Recall that some of the suspected insurgents totalling 114 mostly from Jigawa State were among the suspects who were released last Friday and handed over to the state government amid rousing welcome and grand reception.

    Nnanta said it was not opposed to freeing of any innocent ones found among the suspects but cautioned that proper steps should be taken when handling a sensitive issue like terrorist groups that have been ravaging the country for years now.

    He said: “In a situation like the one affecting the security of the country, it still beats our imagination why about 486 self-acclaimed job seekers led by confirmed Boko Haram kingpins who are on the wanted list of security agents should be travelling on a convoy under the cover of darkness.

    More annoying is the reported celebration of suspected terrorists by a state government and we think that the action of Jigawa State government tends to suggest that the so-called job seekers or travellers were on a state assignment.”

    Nnanta further said his group frowned at the furore that greeted the arrest and detention of the suspects, especially from groups with Northern interests, stressing that instead of synergising on how to end insurgency ravaging the region, “Northern governments and groups were busy campaigning and lobbying for the release of terror suspects”.

    Nnanta maintained that security agents should be allowed to handle all security

    issues in the country professionally without undue interference by individuals or groups with vested interests, “if Nigeria is serious about ending terrorism”.

    He warned the political class, religious and ethnic interest groups to stop politicising security issues as such attribute rather than bring solution only helps to worsen the already precarious security situation in the country.

    Nnanta also expressed support for the position of Southeast Governors on the war against terror, while calling on Ndigbo in particular, and Nigerians in general to remain vigilant and more security conscious in the face of daunting security challenges.

  • Boko Haram carnage making Nigeria break-up less likely, says Soyinka

    Boko Haram carnage making Nigeria break-up less likely, says Soyinka

    Nigeria is suffering greater carnage at the hands of Islamist group Boko Haram than it did during a secessionist civil war, yet this has ironically made the country’s break-up less likely, Nigerian Nobel Literature Laureate Wole Soyinka said.

    Speaking to Reuters at his home surrounded by rainforest near the southwestern city of Abeokuta, Soyinka said the horrors inflicted by the militants had shown Nigerians across the mostly Muslim north and Christian south that sticking together might be the only way to avoid even greater sectarian slaughter.

    The bloodshed is now worse than during the 1967-70 Biafra war when a secessionist attempt by the eastern Igbo people nearly tore Nigeria up into ethnic regions, he added.

    “We have never been confronted with butchery on this scale, even during the civil war,” Soyinka said in his front room, surrounded by traditional wooden sculptures of Yoruba deities on Tuesday.

    “There were atrocities (during Biafra) but we never had such a near predictable level of carnage and this is what is horrifying,” said the writer, who was imprisoned for two years in solitary confinement by the military regime during the war on charges of aiding the Biafrans.

    Soyinka, a playwright and one of Africa’s leading intellectuals who still wears his distinctive white Afro hairstyle, turns 80 in two weeks. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, the first African writer to receive it.

    A million people died during the Biafra war, though mostly through starvation and illness, rather than violence.

    Boko Haram’s five-year-old struggle to carve out an Islamic state from its bases in the remote northeast has become increasingly bloody, with near daily attacks killing many thousands.

    The conflict’s growing intensity has led Nigerian commentators to predict it may split the country, 100 years after British colonial rulers cobbled Nigeria together from their northern and southern protectorates.

    “I think ironically it’s less likely now,” Soyinka said. “For the first time, a sense of belonging is predominating. It’s either we stick together now or we break up, and we know it would be not in a pleasant way.”

    Governments let in religion

     

    Boko Haram’s abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in April drew unprecedented international attention to the insurgency and pledges of aid from Western powers, but violence has worsened.

    Boko Haram fighters frequently massacre whole villages, gunning down fleeing residents and burning their homes.

    Nigeria, amalgamated by the British in 1914, brought together often historically antagonistic peoples – principally the largely Muslim Fulani, Hausa and Kanuri of the North, and the Yoruba, Igbo and other peoples of the mostly Christian south.

    Several regional movements have launched low-level independence campaigns that get little national attention. But Soyinka said fewer people were shrugging off Boko Haram’s menace.

    “It’s almost unthinkable to say: ‘well, let’s leave them to their devices.’ Very few people are thinking that way.”

    Attacks spreading southwards, including three bombings in the capital since April, showed it was not a just a northern problem.

    “The (Boko Haram) forces that would like to see this nation break up are the very forces which will not be satisfied having their enclave,” he said. “(We) are confronted with an enemy that will never be satisfied with the space it has.”

    Soyinka blamed successive governments for allowing religious fanaticism to undermine Nigeria’s broadly secular constitution, starting with former President Olusegun Obasanjo allowing some states to declare Sharia law in the early 2000s.

    “When the spectre of Sharia first came up, for political reasons, this was allowed to hold, instead of the president defending the constitution,” he said.

    Soyinka sees both Christianity and Islam as foreign impositions.

    “We cannot ignore the negative impact which both have had on African society,” he told Reuters. “They are imperialist forces: intervening, arrogant. Modern Africa has been distorted.”

    He added that while the leadership of Boko Haram needed to be “decapitated completely”, little had been done to present an alternative ideological vision to their “deluded” followers, driven largely by economic destitution and despair.

  • Suspected Boko Haram members arrested in Ebonyi

    The Army arrested yesterday 17 suspected Boko Haram members at the Amasiri-Afikpo junction in Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

    A source said after their arrest, they were handed over to the Area Command of the Nigeria Police in Afikpo for interrogation.

    The Nation learnt that the suspects, who were arrested in a chartered white bus, were intercepted in the afternoon before they could get to their destination.

    The source said after their detention, over 100 youths besieged the police station, seeking justice.

    A man from Afikpo, who preferred anonymity, urged the police not to play down on the possibility of the suspects being Boko Haram members, saying nobody is safe in the country.

    He said: “The police should not introduce the Nigerian factor in this matter. Why would these people arrive in Ebonyi in a chartered bus today, which is our Eke Market day? Why are they coming in large numbers?

    “What employment opportunity could they be looking for in Afikpo? Who are they and their sponsors? We are worried about this incident.

    “The Islamic school in Afikpo is seen as a ‘time bomb’. We are no longer comfortable with the school. There was a time it was rumoured that arms and ammunition were smuggled into the Islamic school by unknown individuals.”

    Police spokesman Chris Anyanwu said: “The suspects were arrested by the Army before they were handed over to the Police. We believe they are either from Niger or Mali.

    “Are we saying aliens are no longer free to enter Nigeria? After our investigation, they will be handed over to the Nigeria Immigration Service for further investigation.

    “I advise that people should stop raising the alarm over Boko Haram if they don’t have the facts. No weapon was discovered on the suspects.”

  • Boko Haram carnage making Nigeria break-up less likely, says Soyinka

    Boko Haram carnage making Nigeria break-up less likely, says Soyinka

    Nigeria is suffering greater carnage at the hands of Islamist group Boko Haram than it did during a secessionist civil war, yet this has ironically made the country’s break-up less likely, Nigerian Nobel Literature Laureate Wole Soyinka said.

    Speaking to Reuters at his home surrounded by rainforest near the southwestern city of Abeokuta, Soyinka said the horrors inflicted by the militants had shown Nigerians across the mostly Muslim north and Christian south that sticking together might be the only way to avoid even greater sectarian slaughter.

    The bloodshed is now worse than during the 1967-70 Biafra war when a secessionist attempt by the eastern Igbo people nearly tore Nigeria up into ethnic regions, he added.

    “We have never been confronted with butchery on this scale, even during the civil war,” Soyinka said in his front room, surrounded by traditional wooden sculptures of Yoruba deities on Tuesday.

    “There were atrocities (during Biafra) but we never had such a near predictable level of carnage and this is what is horrifying,” said the writer, who was imprisoned for two years in solitary confinement by the military regime during the war on charges of aiding the Biafrans.

    Soyinka, a playwright and one of Africa’s leading intellectuals who still wears his distinctive white Afro hairstyle, turns 80 in two weeks. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, the first African writer to receive it.

    A million people died during the Biafra war, though mostly through starvation and illness, rather than violence.

    Boko Haram’s five-year-old struggle to carve out an Islamic state from its bases in the remote northeast has become increasingly bloody, with near daily attacks killing many thousands.

    The conflict’s growing intensity has led Nigerian commentators to predict it may split the country, 100 years after British colonial rulers cobbled Nigeria together from their northern and southern protectorates.

    “I think ironically it’s less likely now,” Soyinka said. “For the first time, a sense of belonging is predominating. It’s either we stick together now or we break up, and we know it would be not in a pleasant way.”

    Governments let in religion

     

    Boko Haram’s abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in April drew unprecedented international attention to the insurgency and pledges of aid from Western powers, but violence has worsened.

    Boko Haram fighters frequently massacre whole villages, gunning down fleeing residents and burning their homes.

    Nigeria, amalgamated by the British in 1914, brought together often historically antagonistic peoples – principally the largely Muslim Fulani, Hausa and Kanuri of the North, and the Yoruba, Igbo and other peoples of the mostly Christian south.

    Several regional movements have launched low-level independence campaigns that get little national attention. But Soyinka said fewer people were shrugging off Boko Haram’s menace.

    “It’s almost unthinkable to say: ‘well, let’s leave them to their devices.’ Very few people are thinking that way.”

    Attacks spreading southwards, including three bombings in the capital since April, showed it was not a just a northern problem.

    “The (Boko Haram) forces that would like to see this nation break up are the very forces which will not be satisfied having their enclave,” he said. “(We) are confronted with an enemy that will never be satisfied with the space it has.”

    Soyinka blamed successive governments for allowing religious fanaticism to undermine Nigeria’s broadly secular constitution, starting with former President Olusegun Obasanjo allowing some states to declare Sharia law in the early 2000s.

    “When the spectre of Sharia first came up, for political reasons, this was allowed to hold, instead of the president defending the constitution,” he said.

    Soyinka sees both Christianity and Islam as foreign impositions.

    “We cannot ignore the negative impact which both have had on African society,” he told Reuters. “They are imperialist forces: intervening, arrogant. Modern Africa has been distorted.”

    He added that while the leadership of Boko Haram needed to be “decapitated completely”, little had been done to present an alternative ideological vision to their “deluded” followers, driven largely by economic destitution and despair.

  • Aba after Boko Haram suspects’ arrest

    Aba after Boko Haram suspects’ arrest

    The arrest last month of 486 persons suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect has altered the security equation in Aba, Abia State’s commercial hub, with security agencies stepping up surveillance as residents tread softly. SUNNY NWANKWO reports

    Most of the 486 suspects have been freed, but that has brought little relief to residents of Aba, the economic nerve of Abia State. One of the remaining suspects still in detention is said to be on the wanted list of the military. That is cause for concern, even though nothing is proved yet. Even the release of most of the suspects has been criticised, especially in the Southeast, with some arguing that it was hasty.

    Residents of the   commercial city have become jumpy and are looking out for themselves. Security agencies have also scaled up their surveillance in order to prevent any push down south by violent elements wreaking havoc in the North.

    The military arrested the suspects  along Aba-Port Harcourt expressway last month, triggering wide media reportage.

    Since the Director of Defence Information, Gen. Chris Olukolade issued a statement alleging that a “terror kingpin on the list of wanted terrorist of security forces in Nigeria has been detected in the ongoing screening of the 486 suspects nabbed while travelling in over 33 buses at night on the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway” on June 15, residents of Aba have been living apprehensively, a throwback to the days of  kidnapping in the state.

    Though the said Boko Haram kingpin who was identified among the suspects has been relocated out of Abia, residents of the state, especially Aba, including security agencies in the state, have been vigilant since the arrest.

    This situation has caused security and para-military organisations in the state to engage in one form of counter security measures or the other to ensure that the people’s agitations are dealt with.

    At the gate of Aba South Local Government Area, security personnel including the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) security personnel mounted a stop-and-search operation on vehicles going into the council’s offices.

    A military source, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said they were instructed to stop and search vehicles in order to avert any possible security breach in the Area.

    Though the personnel refused to comment further when quizzed by the reporter, he however attributed their actions and presence at the council’s gate to the outcome of a security meeting after the army arrested 486 suspected members of Boko Haram insurgents in the state.

    Efforts to speak with the Divisional Officer of NSCDC, Aba South Paul Nze failed, but the Public Relations Officer of the agency, Mr. Victor Ogbonna said that the officers would not have been carrying out the stop and search operation at the Aba South gate without any operational manual.

    According to Ogbonna, “Aba South itself can have an operational manual given to them. So, what you need to do is to go and find out where the operational manual is coming from. It can be done. If the local government authority demand that, I think it is suppose be done. Find out if they are given that mandate. We cannot do without mandate. Before it is done (stop and search) we must get an operational manual. You must tell us what to do. If they tell us what to do, we might decide to put it down on paper as evidence, which is how we work. We cannot just come out like that and begin to work. There must be an operational manual given to us; there must be an agreement

    A check around churches, police station and other corporate offices show that security has been tightened in such places.

    Parishioner in some of the worship centers in the commercial city told our correspondent that after the news of the suspected Boko Haram members’ arrest, their churches have made moves to install Close Circuit Cameras (CCTV) within their church compound.

    Another source however disclosed that security officials in their church now use metal detector to search even parishioners thoroughly before they could gain entrance into the church premises. This development the source said though they were not comfortable with, they have to accept in good fate because it was for their own security as “no one prays to die while coming to receive salvation from God.”

    Checks by our reporter around police stations in Aba, Enyimba City has it that security has equally been improved as station guards quizzes and thoroughly scrutinize any person whose movement in and around police stations look suspicious.

    It was also gathered that because of the economic importance of Aba to Abia, State, south east and indeed, the Igbo nation, virtually all the security agencies in the state have deployed more intelligence personnel out in the streets of Aba, including markets for prompt security and intelligence gathering reports.

    The Aba Area Commander, Nigerian Police, ACP Peter Wagbara had assured residents of the commercial city and its environs of their safety.

    Wagbara who was reacting over the tension and fear being expressed by some residents after soldiers intercepted the said suspected members of Boko Haram disclosed that the command has increased its intelligence gathering and patrol within and outside Aba.

    According to the Area Commander, the command has equally redesigned its operational strategies in crime fighting and to further beef up security of lives and property in the densely populated business community.

    “We don’t want to take chances, not with the reported escape of two buses in the convoy of the travellers intercepted by soldiers somewhere close to Aba. We have deployed our officers and men to some flash points in and around the city to fish out criminals and strange elections.”

    He added that police was intensifying its stop and search operation especially among the tricycle operators which according to him had in recent times become the major operational means of criminals particularly kidnappers.

    He said that in addition to the already taken measures, in order to strengthen security inside the area command, that all illegal structures within the premises had been demolished.

  • Boko Haram will slow GDP growth – Okonjo-Iweala

    Boko Haram will slow GDP growth – Okonjo-Iweala

    Boko Haram’s insurgency will slow Nigeria’s economy again this year, knocking half a percentage point off growth like last year, the country’s finance minister said on Tuesday, adding that her 6.75 percent 2014 growth forecast took this into account.

    Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told Reuters that while the violence in the northeast might put off some potential foreign investors, those who were in Nigeria for the long term seemed to be holding their nerve, as did portfolio investors in its government debt.

    “We are expecting about 6.75 (percent growth in 2014) and we have accounted for the impact of the insurgency which we will think will take half a percentage point off Gross Domestic Product growth,” she said in an interview during a visit to Berlin.

    Nigeria overtook South Africa as the continent’s biggest economy this year, following a rebasing calculation that almost doubled its gross domestic product. The economy grew about 6.4 percent last year, the minister said, with the sect attacks having most economic impact on agriculture in the northeast.

    The economist and former World Bank vice-president said her talks with German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, emphasised “our strong fundamentals despite the challenges that we face.”

    She sought his support for the creation of a new Nigerian development bank to improve financing to small and medium-sized private enterprises which could become an “engine for growth” as the country seeks to diversify its economy away from oil.