Based on the concern raised by President Goodluck Jonathan that Boko Haram is financed by forces outside Nigeria, United Nations’ Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson has assured that the organisation would tighten the noose on the terrorism funding.
Eliasson who briefed the media in Abuja, during the African Union Conference of Ministers of Finance, Economic and Planning however said, that UN will not be physically present in individual countries to control arms as that is “within the powers of the countries to fight terrorism domestically.”
Reacting to the recent killing of secondary school children in Nigeria Eliasson advised the Nigerian government to devise a comprehensive approach to deal with the menace.
He described Africa as the continent of hope as deliberations at the meeting identified the challenges and opportunities in addressing cases of infrastructure deficit, job creation and unemployment in the continent as well as the six per cent annual growth rate of the continent.
Earlier, ECA Executive Secretary, Mr. Carlos Lopes had said that “emerging economies have seen Africa as major trading partners and a place of huge investment.”
According to him, “as the rest of the world gets older, Africa is getting younger and more populous, with implications for education and health care, for supply of labour, and for consumer demand. These are positive trends, but there is still much to be done. Aggregate growth is below the 7 per cent threshold required to double the income in a decade, at this rate, African economies would be unable to generate enough jobs. Africa’s impressive growth rates must be translated into job creation and poverty eradication.”
