President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria on Tuesday said ending insurgency in Africa will require stronger collaboration and commitment from governments, financial institutions and security agencies in tracking the sponsorship of terrorist activities.
He made the statement at a farewell meeting with the High Commissioner of Kenya to Nigeria, Mr Tom Amolo, at the State House in Abuja.
President Buhari said terrorist attacks in Africa bear similar trademarks of intense planning, strong alliances and proper financial sponsorship, which must be thoroughly investigated and reversed.
“Terrorist activities always have financial sponsorships and this can be seen in their acquisition of weapons, their movements and other logistics. Here in Nigeria, we saw that Boko Haram had strong material resources and they had a close link to ISIL,” he said.
The President also noted that African governments must make efforts to dissuade the younger generation from joining the ranks of terrorist groups, who explore youthful minds for suicide bombings.
“We need a whole cultural orientation in order to succeed against terrorism,” he added.
In his remarks, the outgoing High Commissioner said that he enjoyed his stay in Nigeria and still looked forward to returning to the country in the near future.
Nigerian and some countries in West Africa have experienced over six years insurgency by Boko Haram terrorists group.
Counter-terrorism efforts have continued in the oil-rich nation’s northeast to end the activities of the sect, which has employed suicide bombing in their recent attacks.
