From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The President of Chad Republic, Marshal Idris Deby Itno, has blamed the spread of terrorism in the Lake Chad Basin and the Sahel region of Africa on inadequate crusade against it.
According to him, a situation where the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), embarks on just one operation in a whole year also contributes to the difficulty in defeating the terrorists.
President Itno was responding to questions from State House Correspondents after the meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa Abuja, when he made a one-day official visit, during which the two leaders had bilateral discussions.
He said that the four countries sharing the Lake Chad Basin had put together a formidable military formation, the MNJTF, to stamp out terrorism in the region, but lamented that the formation had not been carrying out enough required operations.
Itno, however, expressed optimism that with the new activities and strategies being deployed and new officers with fresh ideas being assigned to take over commands at both national and regional levels, to defeat the various terror groups, including Boko Haram and the Islamic State, West African Province (ISWAP), the menace should be addressed permanently.
His words: “However, with the new security apparatus that has been put in place with the new security chiefs not only in Nigeria, but even in the Multinational Joint Task Force itself, which also has a new leadership, we’re hopeful now that with new strategies, and new dynamism, that we’ll be able to definitively address the issue of Boko Haram.
“All the countries participating and taking responsibility, none of them is shirking its responsibilities and the military forces of all the countries also have that sense of responsibility of what needs to be done and what their obligation is, which is to protect all the countries and that they are fully on track for that and with this new security architecture, we’re hopeful that the things will get much better and it will be done all together.”