Obasanjo Urges Buhari to Tackle Boko Haram with Education

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo friday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to tackle the terrorist Boko Haram sect with education.  He said the war against terrorism could only be won with proper education and enlightenment of the citizenry especially people from the region who are heavily impacted.

Obasanjo stated this in Benin City while delivering the 11th Convocation Lecture of Benson Idahosa University tagged “Effective Education, a Panacea for Societal Development and Transformation.”

He pointed out that education as a moral enterprise was needed to re-engage the issue of Boko Haram.

Obasanjo said: "President Buhari should tackle terrorists from the angle of morale education. If we are able to tackle Boko Haram with education in our schools and in the social media, we will dilute their messages and positively win their hearts and others who have been swayed by the terrorists' message."

However, he said to succeed, there was need to use more of counter messages that are more appealing, truthfully and as intense as those of the terrorists, adding that the capacity of all teachers should be strengthened to deliver such messages at morning and afternoon assemblies of our primary and secondary schools so that they will have a strong dose of such messages, while the airwaves and social media should also be saturated with such positive messages.

"Even if we defeat Boko Haram on the battle front, we need education to sustain the victory. Let me give you an insight. In 2010, there was a survey of education in Nigeria among the six geo-political zones. The Southwest had 79 per cent that are educated; the Southeast followed with about 78 per cent. In the Northeast where Boko Haram dominates, it is 19 per cent and that is one of the reasons people believe that Boko Haram was a menace waiting to happen and it doesn’t matter what we do, we have to reverse that trend.

“Maybe the situation has even gone worse in the last five years because people have moved out of school. Some schools have been destroyed and we cannot fold our arms and say it is up to the Northeast.

“Rather, it is up to all of us in Nigeria; we have to do what should be done to bring parity in the area of education across the length and breadth of the country."

During a question and answer session after the lecture, Obasanjo described the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan as a disaster, saying that his actions and in-actions would continue to impact negatively on the aspiration of people from that region.

He said: “I have said it that you can help anybody to get a job but you cannot help him to do it. Let us get it clear. There is nobody who has got into any position who has not been helped by one person or more than one person.”

“Yes as I have said, I believe that opportunity that afforded itself in 2010 for somebody from the minority to on his own become the President of Nigeria, he (Jonathan) should never have lost the opportunity but what he did with it is entirely up to him. Don’t forget what he did or did not do with it, will reflect for a long time on that part of the country and don’t take that lightly," he added.