Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has explained his private meeting with Boko Haram terrorists in 2011.
The retired General, who spoke virtually on Monday at the 2022 Murtala Muhammed Foundation (MMF) annual lecture, warns that Nigeria must address the challenge of 15 million out-of-school children or face more problems in future.
His speech was on the theme “Beyond Boko Haram: Addressing Insurgency, Banditry and Kidnapping across Nigeria”.
Obasanjo, MMF Board of Trustees Chairman, said that with the country’s population of 215 million, 15 million out-of-school kids pose a serious problem.
ATTENTION: Click “HERE” to join our WhatsApp group and receive News updates directly on your WhatsApp!
NAN quoted him saying: “I believe it is not too late to start and say to ourselves ‘we do not want the Boko Haram of 2030 or 2035″,
“But if we don’t do anything about those 15 million out-of-school children, we are already in more trouble with Boko Haram of the future.
“We, the society, must be willing to give them education and employment or they extract it from the society unwillingly,” Obasanjo noted.
He disclosed that during his trip to Maiduguri in 2011, the deadly Boko Haram said they were interested in Sharia and complained that their followers had no job.
Also Read: Troops Kill Scores of ISWAP, Boko Haram Fighters in Mandara Mountains
Obasanjo added: “What I feared at that time seems to have been happening because in 2011, Boko Haram had not much of external connection.
“My fear was: could we be able to get them away from Al-Qaeda and other international terror organizations? We seem not to have been able to do that.
“Today, Boko Haram and those who have come to work with them are making the matter much worse than it was 11 years ago,”
