Partner with Nigeria to defeat Boko Haram, Saraki tells UN

Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, yesterday urged the International Community to partner with Nigeria to defeat Boko Haram insurgency in the North-eastern part of the country.
Saraki made the call while delivering his key note address at the ongoing 4th World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments, organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York.

He noted that the menace of insurgency and all forms of brutality being visited on innocent citizens by terrorists across the world require international collaboration to curtail as they pose great threat to global peace and democracy.
Like most other countries, terrorism has become a clog on Nigeria’s path to sustainable development,said the Senate President
He stressed that terrorism can no longer be treated like a local problem and that it was time the world joined Nigeria to decisively defeat Boko Haram while urgently rebuilding the Northeast.
Saraki said: “The time to act is now. For us in Nigeria, with the new leadership at the executive and legislature, we are reacting already. You have a reliable partner to work with.
“Boko Haram represents the greatest terrorist threat we face. The insurgency’s senseless terror has brought untold destruction and hardship on our people in the North East of the country. I therefore call on the international community to partner with Nigeria to defeat Boko Haram.
“Thankfully, our military has in recent times, significantly degraded the morale and capacity of the insurgents to launch attacks in the area, a feat that has since seen many settlements liberated, roads reopened and hope restored. I call on the global community to join hands with Nigeria to rebuild the overwhelming destruction of the North East,” he stated.
According to him, the world that is today embattled by challenges with no easy answers ranging from climate change, regional conflicts and terrorism.
He lamented that the conflicts have brought in their wake the problem of internal destitution, displacement and dislocation of people, adding that democracy and development cannot take place in this type of atmosphere.
He stated that the challenge the global community now faces is how to quickly turn the tide around to achieve sustainable development.