Boko Haram, a political problem, return Nigerian troops back to their barracks, Jimoh Ibrahim advises

By Abiodun OBA

…Says Nigeria can repay its debts within 90 days

Senator-elect and business mogul, Jimoh Ibrahim, has described Boko Haram as a political problem, asking President Bola Tinubu to return Nigerian troops back to their barracks.

The lawmaker-elect gave this piece of advice while speaking in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday.

He said, “Boko Haram is a political problem. You have to socialise politically to solve Boko Haram. The first thing Mr President has to do is to withdraw soldiers from the front(line) and return them back to the barracks.

“Children that left NDA as a lieutenant, they have become Major-General, and the war is still there. Is the military a challenge to ourselves? No,” he said.

Ibrahim said the military has been deploying a conventional strategy to approach unconventional war.

He blamed the alleged failure in the fight against terrorism on the strategy deployed by the authorities in the Northeast.

According to Ibrahim, Nigeria has spent a whopping $1.2 trillion fighting insurgency within the last 10 years.

He said, rather than deploying troops to the theatre of operations, the Nigerian government should “look for information gathering, socialization, you need to meet stakeholders, you have to do meetings.”

Speaking on the way forward, however, Ibrahim advised President Bola Tinubu to “go into political socialization. You have to socialise domestically. Assuming you have spent 10 per cent of $1.2 trillion on political socialisation, Boko Haram would have disappeared.

“But you spent 89 per cent on a factor that is not significant to confront Boko Haram, Boko Haram will still be there.”

Ibrahim was optimistic that Nigeria can repay its debts within 90 days.

He advised the Nigerian authorities to approach five EXIM banks and access a loan that is five times the current debt.

Ibrahim said, “I can give you a strategy that can make you pay back the debts in 90 days. All you have to do is to call five EXIM banks, including China EXIM bank.

“Take a loan about five times whatever you are owing currently, do a bridge gap financing, and then pay off what you are owing. Then you will have a surplus, do a repayment programme for 40 years and then have an honorarium period of 10 years and you are out of the debt.”