British Minister for Africa, James Duddridge has revealed that the current wave of violence been unleashed on Nigeria by terrorist and their ally group is a complex phenomenon that requires a multi-dimensional approach to handle.
The UK Minister stated this when he had an interactive session with some journalist who paid a courtesy visit to the Nigeria Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama in his Abuja office yesterday.
Mr. Duddridge disclosed that the United Kingdom is a strong ally of the Nigerian government in its effort to end the wave of violence posed by terrorism to the country.
In his statement, “The situation is massively complex and no partnership is going to resolve the multiplicity of problems whether it is Boko Haram or secessionist or a number of other issues.
‘’In the UK, you have a strong partnership across the full gamut of issues, so, it is not just about intelligence and hard security and military, it is about societies, it is about humanitarian support, it is about education and development partnership.
He explained that “It is not an end game, we don’t get to a point where we would say ‘this is the end of our relationship with Nigeria,’ because we got what we want, we set a higher bar, we are long -term partners.”
The UK Minister revealed that the relationship between Nigeria and British is very strategic for the African Continent not just because Nigeria is a big and the most populous nation but is because of the role Nigeria plays on the African continent.
Speaking earlier, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama decried the complex nature of the problem Nigeria is facing especially the Boko-haram in the north-east due to the unconventional nature of the whole problem involve.
Onyeama lament, “It is not a conventional war, where the enemy is readily identifiable; it is asymmetrical warfare, and we are dealing with very difficult situations. We have an intelligence fusion unit with our partners – the US, UK, France,”
He added that the sharing of intelligence will continue as our security forces remain unrelenting, saying though there is a multiplicity of problems that need to be addressed such as de-radicalization, education, jobs, girl-child education such that the ideology would be re-engineered.
The Minister told Mr. Duddrige that though Nigeria is struggling with varying security problems with some degree of inflation and Unemployment, but in terms of economy, there is an appreciable improvement.
Onyeamam added that this was possible because the government has stuck to the economic plan with lots of discipline and hoping to see improvement.
The Minister also expressed his joy at how the cases of coronavirus in the country were diminishing, where he applauded the UK government for intervening in many ways to see Nigeria remain safe and united.
