Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja
The Minister of Defence, Maj Gen Bashir Magashi (rtd), yesterday, appealed to the United Nations (UN) to support the Nigerian Military to end insecurity in parts of the country.
Magashi, who spoke at a meeting with the delegation of the experts of the United Nations Independent High Level Panel on Security, Governance and Development in the Sahel held at the Ministry of Defence Headquarters in Abuja, said Nigeria was working hard to contain terrorists especially, in the North-eastern part of the country.
The defence minister noted that in comparative terms, Nigeria was contributing more than other countries in counterpart funding, deployment of manpower and provision of other logistics among the member-states of the Multinational Joint Task Force, (MNJTF).
He, however, made a strong case for improved resources on the part of the United Nations towards the promotion of global peace and regional economic prosperity to reduce the high level of poverty at all levels.
The Head of the UN Mission and Leader of the four-man delegation, Mr Abdullahi Boureima, alongside Nigerian panelist, Professor Jibrin Ibrahim, put the mandate of the UN High-level Panel in context, bothering on security, governance and development concerns facing the sahel region.
The delegation affirmed that part of the reasons for the meeting in all countries of their assignments, including Nigeria was to articulate and aggregate views on how to effectively summount the existential challenges facing the sahel region.
While thanking the minister for approving the visit, the UN group said eliciting Nigeria’s perspective on the way forward was germane to their assignments, which set the tone for the meeting.
The interface, which had the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Dr Ibrahim Abubakar Kana, in attendance and other top management staff as well as the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Danlami Ibrahim, later went into question and answer session.
