TheCable

‎President Muhammadu Buhari says with the insurgency in the northeast and the security crisis in the south-south,‎ his government is fighting on many fronts.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Faure Gnassingbe, president of Togo, who paid him visit at the presidential villa on Thursday, Buhari said it was not easy fighting insurgency and providing infrastructure.

“As for Nigeria, we are grateful for the sympathy and the goodwill expressed, touching on the performance of our armed forces and law enforcement agencies, since this administration came into being. It is is not easy trying to fight on so many fronts, the northeast, the south-south and then try to provide infrastructure in our country‎,” he said.

“Since the cooperation of the regional countries comprising Cameroun, Chad, Niger and Benin Republic, we have identified our problem and achieved positive results in terms of isolation of Boko Haram and giving a chance to peace.

“Bilaterally, we’re trying to see how we can come closer together as he (Gnassingbe) has explained because having being there longer than myself, he’s more exposed, both in regional and on African Union level. But first and foremost, we must identify our problem and the first thing is security. We must secure our region, otherwise sustainable development will be impossible.

“You’ve just heard him say how much is lost to piracy and Nigeria cannot afford to lose that. So, there is need for cooperation amongst the African countries. We’ll continue to discuss and do our best to resolve regional issues. The most important thing is that we must pay attention to agriculture and manufacturing so that everybody can be employed and then we’ll have much less problem‎.”