President Muhammadu Buhari has told Heads of State and Governments of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) including Chadian President, Idris Deby Itno and others that the Boko Haram insurgency must be wiped out of the sub region now.
Speaking during the opening ceremony of an extra-ordinary meeting of the LCBC ongoing in Abuja, Buhari said: “Our meeting today will consider the report of the Committee we set up during our last Summit on the way forward.
“I thank the Committee for meeting the deadline assigned to it and I hope that their recommendations will bring a new dynamism in the fight against Boko Haram and their international affiliates.”
He said the Lake Chad region had suffered decades of neglect and poor infrastructural development and that the Boko Haram crisis in the last eight years has worsened its already bad situation.
“We must take cognizance of the fact that sustainable growth and development of the sub-region is dependent on the quick attainment of peace and stability in the area.
“We must put an end to the crisis in the sub-region to enable meaningful development for its people. We must remain resolute and committed in our collective efforts at attaining peace as well as eradicating terrorism and violent extremism from the sub-region.
“The time has come for the evil of Boko Haram to be brought to a definitive end. I am sure that this summit will take the right decisions in this regard. This is a fight to the finish. We must, and we will, by the grace of God, wipe out terrorism from our sub-region,” he said.