Boko Haram no longer has the capability to occupy North- East, says Pres. Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said
that the fight against corruption is aimed at
saving the soul of the nation. Buhari who
was represented by Vice President, Prof. Yemi
Osinbajo, made this statement at the second
plenary meeting of Catholic Bishops Conference
of Nigeria (CBCN), near Port Harcourt.
He said:
" Our fight against corruption is not just a
battle of virtue and righteousness in our
land, but it is a fight for the soul and
substance of our nation.
" Corruption in our country is endemic and
it constitutes a parallel system," he
said. According to the President,
corruption has made a potentially
prosperous country struggle to feed and
provide jobs for its people.
" Hundreds of thousands of infants and
maternal mortality statistics, hundreds of
thousands deaths from communicable
diseases are traceable to the greed and
corruption of a few," he said. Buhari urged
Nigerians to think of resuscitating the
nation`s economy because two-thirds of
Nigerians lived in extreme poverty.
"They must be helped, first to survive, and
then, fully participate in the economy of
the nation. "Consequently, we must create
tenets for the very poor and vulnerable,
while ensuring that social spending also
resurrects investments in the
economy. "We must invest substantially in
relevant education; teachers training and
vocational and entrepreneurial training,"
Buhari said.
The President said a way out, was for all
Nigerians to invest in infrastructure and all
crucial components in the medium and long
term means of diversifying the economy.
He continued by saying:
"Meanwhile, we must block all leakages
and improve on our revenue base," he
said. On insurgency, Buhari said Boko
Haram had been weakened and lacked the
strength to occupy the North-East zone or
any part of the country.
He also said the military was using local
intelligence to thwart efforts of Boko Haram to
regroup in the North-East or any part of the
country.
He said:
"On security, we are on course to militarily
route Boko Haram and make them
incapable of taking over any
territory. "Suicide bombings on some
parts of the North- East are desperate acts
of terrorists to create a sense that they are
still in play.
"But, with vigilance and local intelligence,
we will make these cowardly acts
practically impossible," he said. Earlier, the
President of CBCN, Most Rev. Ignatius
Kaigama, said that the new administration
in the country would recover the
country`s wasted opportunities.
Kaigama, who is the Archbishop of Jos, said the
church will continue to pray for Nigeria. He said:
"The tendency to promote, defend, and
protect narrow personal economic,
regional and religious interests have been
responsible for our unstable national
journey of one step forward and many
steps backward," he said Kaigama
expressed optimism that the new
administration would achieve positive
change and recover wasted opportunities.