Ex-president says military is not enough to fight Boko Haram

dimeji akinloye

June 14, 2015 7:26 AM

Obasanjo called on Nigeria and other African countries to pursue economic integration on the basis of regional economic communities.

Nigeria's former president, Olusegun Obasanjo.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said the fight against Boko Haram in Nigeria and other violent groups across the country cannot be left to the military operations alone, saying it cannot solve the problem.

Obasanjo who spoke about conflict in Africa at the African Export-Import Bank’s 22nd Annual General Meeting held in Lusaka, Zambia, said the crises were caused by failure to address certain social problems in the society such as educational disparity.

According to a statement by Afrixembank’s spokesman, Obi Emekekwue, Obasanjo “proposed a carrot and stick solution to the conflicts on the continent through an approach involving military solutions and social development since a purely military approach would not work.”

The ex-president added, “a situation, such as in Nigeria, where one section had an educational attainment level of 79 per cent while another had only 19 per cent, created room for conflict.”

He called on Nigeria and other African countries to pursue economic integration on the basis of regional economic communities rather than doing so with the over 54 countries on the

Obasanjo added that “Africa should start adding value to its commodities rather than exporting raw commodities only for those commodities to be sent back to the continent as finished goods.”

dimeji akinloye