TheCable

Olusegun Obasanjo, former President, says there will be no Boko Haram if the level of education in the north-east matched what is obtainable in the south-west.

Obasanjo said it took quite some time for Boko Haram to incubate and evolve into a full-fledged terrorist group.

He said history may repeat itself if the women, children and youth of the north-east region are not provided with ample education.

The former president made the comments on Friday in Maiduguri, Borno state, while delivering his closing remarks at the end of a two-day peer review meeting of the Nigeria Zero Hunger Strategic Forum.

“Boko Haram did not start overnight. It had an incubating period, but I do not know how long,” Obasanjo said.

“And although I do not know how long it took to incubate, I am sure if the level of education in the North-East matched the level of education in the South-West, there wouldn’t have been Boko Haram.

“If we do not cater for and educate women, children and youth, they will become the Boko Haram of 15 years to come.

“Education is the panacea, education is the key, it inculcates the values that guard against the emergence of Boko Haram.”

An August 2017 report by the United Nations put the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states at 1.7 million.

Most of them were displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency.