President Buhari Orders Release Of N4bn To fight Boko Haram

President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday said he had directed that $21m out of the pledge of $100m which Nigeria made to the Multinational Joint Task Force be released within the next one week.

Buhari disclosed this at the 25th AU summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. He chaired the Peace Security Council at the event.

He said he gave the directive based on the decision of the recent extraordinary summit of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin that $30m should be immediately made available to the MNJTF which is saddled with the responsibility of fighting Boko Haram.

The President said although the sect had extended its reach to Nigeria’s neighbours, its activities were not limited to them because terrorism is a global phenomenon.

He said the global nature of terror required all countries to act in partnership by waging war against agents of evil.

He said;

 “I am pleased to note that Cameroon, Chad and Niger are already showing this attribute by fighting alongside Nigeria under the umbrella of the MNJTF to defeat Boko Haram.

“To this end, the summit approved the immediate provision of $30m for the task force.

“In this regard, the member countries of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin met recently where far-reaching decisions were taken to immediately put into operations the MNJTF. 

“Consequently, out of the pledge of $100m which Nigeria made to the task force, I have directed that $21m be released within the next one week.”

The President regretted that the continent was indunated with conflicts of diverse forms in Burkina Faso, Mali, Libya, Central Africa Republic, South Sudan, and more recently in Burundi.