Buhari Says Education is Key to Defeating Terrorists

Buhari Says Education is Key to Defeating Terrorists

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday in Mecca, Saudi Arabia said the federal government would welcome support from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for its ongoing efforts to rehabilitate parts of the country affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.

A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu, said Buhari made the request while speaking at a meeting with the Secretary General of the OIC, Mr. Iyad Ameen Madani.

Buhari urged the organisation  to send a fact-finding mission to the ravaged states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States to see the damage done by terrorists.

The president told Madani  that the fact-finding visit would help the OIC to determine the scope of assistance it  could offer to Nigeria for the rehabilitation and resettlement of internally displaced persons.

Buhari also challenged the OIC to act urgently in support of the restoration of peace, law and order to Libya which, he said, had been breeding the terrorists causing mayhem in West and Central African countries following the fall of the Ghaddafi regime.
Buhari agreed with Madani that Islam had been wilfully misrepresented by terrorists.

The president said that it was only by educating people properly about Islam that terrorists would be deprived of legitimacy and a basis for the recruitment of followers.

He therefore urged the OIC to assist the federal government  in bringing true knowledge and enlightenment to all Nigerians.