By JULIANA TAIWO-OBALONYE, Abuja
President Goodluck Jonathan in Washington DC, has called for more effective global action and implementation of all existing international protocols against terrorism and violent extremism.
He made the call while presenting Nigeria’s position at the US-African Leaders Summit, demanding a more effective international sanctions regime against countries, organisations and individuals that sponsor terrorism in any part of the world.
Jonathan observed that some of the security problems being faced by Nigeria and other African countries were transnational in scope and could not therefore be solved by any country acting alone.
He said that because terrorism, piracy and transnational organised crimes had become global in scope, greater regional and international collaboration was needed to combat them.
“Several African countries, including Nigeria, are now challenged by terrorism and violent extremism. For several countries in the continent, terrorism has become a real threat to social progress, peace and security.
“The violent and criminal activities of Boko Haram in my country have captured the world’s attention. This has been especially so since the terrorist group abducted some girls from their school dormitory in the North-Eastern Nigeria in April.
“Nigeria may be the epicentre of Boko Haram terrorist activities at the moment, but its affiliation with international terrorist networks, dramatically increases its capacity and reach beyond Nigeria’s borders.
“Nigeria is doing everything possible to combat Boko Haram and violent extremism. While we continue to enhance our intelligence and military capacities, we are, at the same time, working on political and socio-economic solutions. We are also building partnerships, both at the regional and international levels, to combat the threat posed by terrorism in our sub-region.
“In this enterprise, we are pleased to acknowledge the supportive role of the United States. The assistance that we continue to receive from the United States and our other international partners is proof indeed that partnership can multiply our strengths in addressing common challenges, the President said.
