By Samuel Ogidan
Abuja
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bulus Lolo, has disclosed that the recent trips embarked upon by President Muhammadu Buhari have started yielding positive results on the war against the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east.
Despite the upsurge in the attacks by the Boko Haram in the North-east, which had killed scores in recent days, Ambassador Lolo declared that the Nigerian security forces are zeroing in on the insurgents, adding that the terrorists are in their last desperate breath as the military are dislodging them.
He told a news conference at the weekend while briefing on the diplomatic activities of President Muhammadu Buhari in the last one month in office, that the president had mapped out a regional security strategy in collaboration with Chad, Niger and Cameroun to end Boko Haram attacks.
He said that the recent visit of President Buhari to Chad, Niger and Cameroun was to strategise not only on military option but to explore other measures that would be adopted to address the fundamental causes of the insurgency in order to find a lasting solution to the problem.
“So the governments of these countries have agreed that they will meet military option with economic, social and supportive measures that will also bring succour to the people,” he said.
He said that the President’s visits to Germany and South Africa to attend the G7 and the African Union Summits respectively were fruitful in the sense that it provided Nigeria with a wider initiative to resolve some of the challenges confronting it.
He explained the President’s resolve to tackle corruption and unemployment which he noted are linked to insecurity, adding that the President’s commitment to the war against corruption was well articulated.
The Permanent Secretary while fielding questions from reporters, noted that economic diplomacy remains the cardinal objective of the government, stressing the government will bring the enormous expertise in the country to bear as well as mobilise both human and financial resources to make sure that the foreign policy objective of Nigeria is realised by the present administration.
He noted that it was under the economic diplomacy that Nigeria can premise its foreign policy as well as crystalised its domestic policy for development, pointing out that Nigeria cannot change the fundamental principles of its foreign policy.
