The United Nations secretary general, Mr. Antonio Guterres, visited Borno State yesterday and urged the international community to support humanitarian action in the state which gradually recovering from insurgency.
He arrived in the state capital, Maiduguri in the afternoon as part of his two-day official visit to Nigeria.
This is the first official visit of the 9th UN secretary general to Nigeria.
The UN chief who also met with the state governor, Prof Babagana Zulum, interacted with displaced persons, repentant Boko Haram members, and government officials
“I want to congratulate the Governor for what I see today.
“I want to strongly appeal to the international community to understand Borno as a state of hope, to support humanitarian action in Borno, to recognise the enormous challenges that Borno faces with climate change and Boko Haram activities, and to invest in Borno of hope.
“The community should provide support to the project of the Governor of Borno and civil society of Borno in order to create conditions for real development.
“So, I want to be your (Zulum) advocate within the international community to support and to invest in Borno of hope,” he said.
Guterres also said the Borno State he heard about in many circumstances when he served as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and then as secretary general was a Borno State of terrorism, violence, displacement, and despair.
“This is not the Borno that I found today. The Borno I found today is a Borno of hope. It’s a Borno with future and I was very impressed to see the policy that is being applied here, recognising that we don’t fight terrorism just by military means.
“In fact, terrorism – addressing the root causes of terrorism – and the policy of the government, which is aiming at reestablishing fully the confidence between the people and the government is an essential element that I witnessed today being implemented in reality.
“And on the other hand, it is absolutely essential to understand that, in a situation like this, it’s not enough to provide humanitarian assistance. I am grateful to all those from the international community that have supported the people of Borno with humanitarian assistance.
“But the people I met today want more than that. The people I met today, in reality, want to go back home in safety and dignity. And when one looks at the state, one understands that the way to (fight) terrorism effectively is to provide not only hope, but a future of reality. It is to invest in livelihoods; it is to invest in the reintegration of those that have been in the past recruited by these terrorist groups, by Boko Haram.
“I was amazed to see today in the centre those that have been terrorists, they want to integrate in the society and contribute to society. And the policy that is in place here is a policy of reconciliation, it is a policy of reintegration and it is a policy aiming at a development perspective to allow for terrorism to be definitely eliminated …thanks to the fact that people are able to construct their future in confidence with those that are governing them,” he said.
While noting that terrorism cannot be totally defeated with military force, Guterres lauded the policy of reconciliation and reintegration adopted by the state, saying that it would facilitate the process.
On how the UN was going to assist Borno to get back on track, he said: “The UN has its demining programme. I believe that there is a full possibility of cooperation with the government of Borno in relation to that. But, of course, it is not only demining.
“It is, as I said, investing in the future of people – investing in schools, in the hospitals, in the creation of jobs, in the livelihoods, in helping those programmes, so that they are able to deliver, to go to the market and making Borno, as I said, not only a state of hope, but a state of reality, in which there is no room for terrorism.”
