Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II is optimistic that the Boko Haram insurgency, which has claimed some 13,000 lives, will soon be over.
“I say help is on the way. Terror must and will be defeated,” the emir tweeted, adding: ”All it requires is the good leaders, uncommon courage and unrelenting determination, and victory will be ours.
“We will together see the end of them and their reign of terror.”
Last month, the emir voiced support for vigilantes fighting Boko Haram in the volatile Northeast, urging others to form civilian militias. He questioned the competence of the military to end the five-year-old insurgency.
On November 28, a week after the comments, gunmen with explosives attacked the mosque near the Kano emir’s palace during Friday prayers and killed at least 120 people. No fewer than 270 were injured.
The emir, who was out of the country at the time, returned to lead prayers at the site the following day.
Also yesterday, President Goodluck Jonathan promised that his administration will win the war on terror, despite what he described as efforts by some individuals to sabotage efforts to combat Boko Haram.
Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati dismissed the criticism of the president’s handling of the Boko Haram insurgency as politically-motivated.
He said opponents of the president were taking undue advantage of the country’s security challenges to score cheap political points ahead of next year’s vote.
“What President Jonathan has always said is that the will of the people and of the Nigerian government is stronger than that of the terrorists and insurgents. And no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, the government is determined to win the war against terror,” said Abati.
“Because we are in a political season, quite a number of persons try to play politics with terrorism and insurgency,” said Abati. “The president has called on all professional politicians that this challenge requires the cooperation of all Nigerians, it requires a bi-partisan approach because terrorism poses a threat to our sovereignty as a country.”
Opponents are saying Jonathan has failed to protect citizens from Boko Haram. They also accuse him of incompetence and failure to keep his promise to transform the economy and improve the living conditions of the people.
But Abati disagreed, saying the accusations are mere political rhetoric. President Jonathan, Abati said, vowed to campaign on his record, based on verifiable achievements in his re-election bid.
“President Jonathan will campaign on issues and ideas. He will not campaign on the basis of emotions or empty rhetoric or the kind of empty promises that the opposition seems to have acquired professionalism in,” said Abati, adding:
“A majority of Nigerians know that this is a government that has performed, that has turned the Nigerian economy into the largest economy in Africa. This is the government that has revived the railways, this is the government that has achieved a lot in terms of privatising the power sector and giving real hope about the power sector,” he said.
Abati added that the Jonathan administration has confidence that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will organise free, fair, transparent and credible elections.
Not less than 800 buildings and 194,664 pupils are affected by the insurgents’ attacks on schools in the Northeast, an independent evaluation and assessment performance project report on the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) by the Coalition of Civil Society Groups (CCSG) has said.
Presenting the report of their findings after a survey to reporters yesterday, the CCSG president, Comrade Etuk Bassey Williams, said the bleak future that education faced means that it not be able to meet the education for all goals 1,2 and 4 by the year 2015.
He said the assessment carried out in collaboration with Masonso-Africa partnership for civil Society, Kristen Strong-World economic Development and Emeretine Christisle-centre for educational development United Kingdom among others was on the progress made so far in the formulation and implementation of policies for the successful operation of the Universal Basic Education in Nigeria.
William called for the development of a national education policy to address humanitarian and emergency situation that may arise as a result of unforeseen crises. Besides, he sought more fund, saying decline in funding is inimical to the development of basic education.
“The high rate of out-of school children in Nigeria, which is put at 10.6 million, requires a drastic solution backed by ‘crazy’ funding in order to arrest this ugly trend.”
The group also said the government needed a national free feeding programme for all primary school pupils so as to reduce the high incidence of out-of-school children as poverty is largely responsible for this high rate in Nigeria.
“The enactment of a law that will address the high incidence of unaccessed grant will eliminate the high incidence of state not accessing their funds in the coffers of the UBEC.
“This law is long overdue as most states have been found to be consistently negligent in accessing this grant in order to develop basic education,” the group said.
The research shows that conflicts, gender discrimination, child labour, ignorance and poverty are majorly responsible for the high rate of out-of-school children in Nigeria, among other things.
