Posted by Peter Omagbemi
President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, has tactically lent his support to the school of thought alluding the growing terrorism in Nigeria to poverty, blaming the upsurge of terrorist groups on the fact that “countries are not delivering for their people and there are sources of conflict and underlining frustrations that have not been adequately dealt with”.
He also took a stand against Nigeria’s employment of military option to tackle Boko Haram when he ruled out military solutions in tackling terrorism, urging governments “to give people opportunity, education and resolve conflicts through regular democratic processes,” noting that these would make it less likely for terrorism to take root.
Obama, who was in South Africa as part of his week-long visit to Africa, made the positions known yesterday, while fielding questions from journalists and youths during a Town Hall Meeting with youths from African countries.
Speaking on the importance of youths, Obama noted that “in terms of human capital and young people, I think the greatest investment any country can make, not just an African country, is educating its youth and providing them with the skill to compete in a highly technological, advanced world economy”.
He further said “countries that do not do that well will not succeed,” noting that countries with limited skill will have “problems” in drawing international businesses.
“This is a problem in the United State and not just a problem in Africa,” he added.
He said the U.S. is willing to collaborate with Nigeria to train teachers and incorporate technology in the education system.
“Across board we are having a rethink in education and work force training. And one of the things we want to do is to partner with a country like Nigeria and identify ways that we can provide direct value added, whether it is in helping to train teachers or helping to incorporate technology into the education process”
The American president also praised his government for making a considerable effort in tackling insecurity and curbing terror with the death of Osama Bin Laden but was quick to recognise the existence of Boko Haram in Nigeria.
“There is no doubt in the progress we have made in dealing with some extremist groups, for example core Al Qaeda and Bin Laden” stressing that “they have been greatly diminished”.
He, however, noted that “what is also true is that in some ways the problem has also metastasised, we have more regional terrorist organisations like Boko Haram in Nigeria espousing an extremist ideology, showing no regard for human life”.
He admitted that despite not having a transnational capacity like the other organisations “they are doing great harm in Africa and in the Middle East and in South Asia”.
To curb such uprisings, Obama said “we have to build institutions, a lot of what we talked about in terms of responsiveness, governance and democracy; those things become defence mechanisms against terrorism, they are the most important defence against terrorism’.
He charged the African Union to send peace keeping missions to countries that are likely to have such terrorist cells come up and nip them in the bud before they cause harm, adding that “we can provide advice, training and in some cases equipment”.
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