‘The poverty is unimaginable’ — Buhari says Boko Haram sustained by unemployment

President Muhammadu Buhari says the war against Boko Haram is being hindered by the high rate of poverty and unemployment in states in the north-east.

Buhari, who said this in an interview with Arise TV, added that the poverty in those states, particularly in Borno, is “unimaginable”.

The Boko Haram insurgency, which has lasted for over a decade, has disrupted livelihood in Yobe, Adamawa and Borno, where the crisis is concentrated.

With Nigeria as the current world capital of extreme poverty, Adamawa and Yobe feature among the ten poorest states in the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) poverty report which does not capture Borno.

In the interview broadcast on Thursday, Buhari said one of the ways his administration has recorded some successes in the war is by letting the insurgents know that there is no justification for killing innocent people.

“As I said, the only way we got them around is that ‘you can’t kill innocent people and say God is great’. That worked very well but we have a problem of unemployment,” he said.

“A lot of youths are looking basically for what to eat, not to talk of accommodations and others. The level of poverty is almost unimaginable. So this is our problem.

“But those who are really keeping in touch with what we are doing know the difference between the time we came in and now. And the people of north-east and south-south are the best judges for the performance of this administration.”

The president added that Babagana Zulum, governor of Borno, is “working very hard and taking a lot of risks” in his efforts to restore peace in the state.