Boko Haram: How it can be resolved — ASUU

ABUJA — Worried by the state of security in Nigeria, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, yesterday, said Boko Haram could only be defeated by responsible government, war againt unemployment and provision of social welfare for all citizens. The National President of ASUU, Dr. Nasir Fagge, who addressed journalists on the issue in Abuja,  said:   “The Boko Haram imbroglio presents the gravest internal security challenge since the civil war of 1967 – 1970, which nearly dismembered the country. “The insurgency has led to the death of thousands of people, depressed the economy, intensified ethno-religious and regional tensions, and exposed the navel of intelligence incompetence of our security system and called into serious question the competence of the government to defend the life of the citizens. “The consistency and boldness of these attacks suggest that the government’s approach is tepid, wrong minded, ineffective and mostly an ‘after the act’ approach. We have reached a point where the more the government claims to have tried to curb the insurgent activities, the more the insurgency grows and expands to other frontiers. “It is therefore apparent that the only recipe will be to undertake a deep, new comprehensive analysis of the root causes of the insurgency that has proved till now intractable and is destroying national integrity. “We have reached a point where ad hoc fire brigade approaches and policies, and half measures cannot work, and hence a comprehensive strategy is the answer. These include socio-economic development and education, crucially the pursuit of a humanistic socio-economic development with the goal of fulfilling the needs of the people, society’s control of the commanding height of the economy.” The union accused the federal government of insensitivity, especially as President Goodluck Jonathan  engaged in political rallies across the country and inaugurated national conference while the country was on fire. It said further:  “Today the country stands at the threshold between failure and total collapse of democratic structures, being ravished by insecurity, unemployment, naked corruption, growth without development, leadership failure and poverty. The people have doubted the capability of the government to protect lives. “Contrary to the recommendations of the Okurounmu’s for nomination by direct elections, government opted for subjects selections process giving advantages to the President  and the governor. “Even under the Abacha  military dictatorship 273 out of the 369 delegates to the 1995 constitutional conference were elected only 96 were nominated. We observed from the breakdown of nominees that the recommended framework was put aside and wobbled political consideration was preferred an indication that the conference was exposed to controversies and manipulation from outset.