Nigeria doesn’t need international help over IPOB —Minister

Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, says the country does not require any international help to curtail any threats posed by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB).

Onyeama, at a news conference  at the UN headquarters in New York on Friday evening, said the threat from the self-agitation group would be handled.

“IPOB is, as of now, an internal threat and Nigeria does not need international assistance to resolve it,” the minister said.

According to him, IPOB is different from the Boko Harm terrorists which main aim was to capture territory and to kill innocent people.

“The president is prepared to tell world leaders that the ingredients for a happy, peaceful country are good governance and a strong economy.

“If we can get the economy right, and we can get the good governance to our people, we believe that most of our problems would be taken care of.

“We are a country of young people; the majority of our population is under the age of 35 and a lot of them are restless.

“They are restless because of economic opportunities and that is why we have the migration issue.

“A lot of the youths are the product of very bad governance over the years and that has deprived the young people of educational opportunities and job opportunities.

“So the  president is trying to restructure the country to put in place the bases for good governance.

“Because once you have good governance, and your resources are being channeled to where they are supposed to be, which is on development, then you begin to address a lot of issues,” he said.

He said unlike IPOB, Boko Haram was not an internal threat, but international, pointing out its allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The foreign affairs minister said the position of President Muhammadu Buhari was that the constitution of the country should be respected.

He cautioned that the country’s democracy was still growing and needed to mature and become stronger to handle some of the democratic challenges.

“The important thing we should be focusing on is nation-building using the existing democratic structures,” the minister said.

According to him, the Buhari’s administration of has an agenda for the country and does not want to be distracted from achieving that agenda.

“I think that Mr President came and had an agenda for the country and you really just don’t want to be distracted from that agenda.

“The economy was in a terrible state when this government came in, we went into recession for the first time in decades and we’re just coming out of that recession.

“We want to keep on that path and we believe that a lot of these issues and challenges in the country have their bases in the economics.

Meanwhile, the minister has described the integrity of President Muhammadu Buhari as “impeccable”, just as he declared that the president was in excellent shape to lead the Nigerian delegation to the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly in New York organisation.

The minister said Buhari was “now firing up” and “remained intact” in the fight against corruption, ahead of his departure  on Sunday (today) for New York for the general assembly.

Onyeama said speculations about the president’s health and his ability to withstand the rigours of the assembly, scheduled from Sept. 19 to 25, was unnecessary.

“The president is in excellent form in every way possible. We had the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday that lasted assembly, beyond the usual hour, which. “He presided over throughout. He’s now firing up and very fantastic,” Onyeama said.

According to him, there is no doubt that the president would make the trip to the U.S. and participate in all the events scheduled for the country.

Aside other high-level engagements Buhari will meet with US President, Donald Trump, to further strengthen the bilateral between the two countries. The Nigerian leader will also hold a lunch meeting with Trump along with other world leaders.

The high point of Buhari’s activities would be his participation in the general debate on Tuesday, the first date of the Debate during which he would deliver Nigeria’s national statement.

The Minister also told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York that the amount of money siphoned out of the country was staggering. but added that the government had been engaging countries, also where the money was stashed away, for repatriation.

“The high level of corruption has played a direct role in the development deficit in the country. We know that corruption fights, but it’s a fight this government intends to fight to the end. We will require global cooperation to facilitate restitution and repatriation of those funds,” the Minister said.

He explained further that corruption was endemic and was not going to be won overnight, stressing that the Federal Government was determined to block financial leakages in the system, but equally added that the government was yet to ‘name and shame’ those from whom looted money was recovered so as not to discourage restitution.