Borno State Sponsors Citizens To India

Governor Kashim Shettima, in one of  his administration's 3-approaches to “fighting the Boko Haram attacks in the State.” Has sponsored fifty of its citizens to India for a course in Irrigation Agriculture.

The 50 citizens left Nigeria after the governor addressed them and he said,  his Government has since discovered that, in addition to misguided beliefs, the Boko Haram insurgents have over the years been recruiting foot soldiers they pay salaries to, who ‘accept their offers’ as a result of high local joblessness, hopelessness, and extreme poverty. It is a condition, he said, that can be addressed with a massive investment in Agriculture.

The Governor said he believes that the Boko Haram can best be contained through a combination of “Military socio-political, and economic solutions,” maintaining that none can be effective without the others.

In speaking to the group the governor added, "besides those driven by spiritual motives, there is also the economically induced Boko Haram. This can be seen where some youths were paid as low as N5,000 to burn schools, and spy on our security men. So that goes to show that Boko Haram is not only propelled by evil spiritual motive, but also, by economic motives."

Shettima maintained that while the State will continue to support the military and volunteers as a coercive unit, focus must also be accorded to social re-orientation to de-radicalise citizens as well as provide jobs for majority of them. He noted that without such a program in place which, the Boko Haram would hardly be addressed in the immediate, medium, and long term because, so long as people can be recruited, the group can always grow.