The European Union (EU) expressed its willingness to do what it can to assist Nigeria win the ongoing fight against banditry, kidnapping and insurgency by Boko Haram, stressing that the security of the Niger Delta was key, being the country’s major revenue earner.
This came on a day Katsina State Governor, Mallam Dikko Umaru Radda, made an appeal to his colleague-governors in the north to adopt a ‘community-driven’ approach towards addressing the problem of insecurity plaguing the region.
EU Ambassador to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West Africa States, ECOWAS, Samuela Isopi, disclosed this while on a courtesy visit to the ministers of defence, at Ship House in Abuja.
‘The EU is committed to ensuring that Nigeria overcomes the issues of insecurity, banditry, kidnapping and Boko Haram,’ Isopi said.
She continued by saying that the three main geographical regions that the European Union was worried about were the northeast, the Lake Chad basin, which had been devastated by the Boko Haram rebels, the Niger Delta, where the government receives its funding from oil and gas, and maritime security.
She said that the EU would increase its military assistance in Nigeria to put an end to insurgency.
In a previous speech, the minister of defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, announced that the federal government no longer had the option of negotiating with bandits in order to address national security issues as they arose.
The minister said the decision was taken, following the failure of many states in achieving results with it in the past.
He also called for more intelligence and equipment support from the European Union, EU, in the fight against insecurity, saying it preceded the present administration.
Badaru said the European Union needed to support Nigeria in the fight by taking a collaborative approach of curative and preventive measures to end the crisis in Nigeria.
He disclosed that Nigeria needed military support in the areas of intelligence sharing and equipment to end insurgency in the north-east and other form of criminalities in the country in general.
Badaru said ‘dialogue with bandits was not the option in resolving the crisis as many states have tried it and failed’.
He, therefore, solicited for more EU support in area of intelligence sharing and equipment to end the crisis.
On his part, the Minister of State for Defence, Dr. Bello Muhammed Matawalle, while addressing the delegates, said Nigeria needed the support of EU in areas of intelligence sharing, personnel training and provision of modern and sophisticated equipment in order to fight the insecurity bedeviling the country.
He reiterated that the EU could help Nigeria in combating criminality in the country by sharing intelligence with Nigerian military and giving early warning before the crime was committed.