FORMER President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo stated yesterday that the terrorist organisation’s founders told him that poverty and unemployment drove Boko Haram members to commit atrocities during the early phases of the North-East conflict.
However, he warned that if the roughly 20 million children who are not in school are not handled soon, they will serve as a breeding ground for future Boko Haram militants.
The former President stated this yesterday at the launch of a book titled ‘Pillars of Statecraft: Nation-building in a Changing World’ by his daughter, Dr Kofo Obasanjo-Blackshire, at an event in Lagos.
In response to a query from a member of the audience about why recent government measures had become more political than people-centered, he stated that one of the main issues facing the nation was the search for scapegoats for its difficulties.
He stated further, “During the early days of Boko Haram, when the man who started the movement was said to have been killed, I said I wanted to meet with the members of the group to talk to them and know what they wanted.
“I met with their representatives and found out that they needed nothing but a better life for themselves. Can we blame them for wanting a better life for themselves?
“They said they believed in Sharia Law. I told them that Sharia was not a problem in Nigeria. It is part of our constitution.”
According to the former president, some of the members of the insurgent group told him that they went to school but had no jobs.
He added, “Do we blame them if after four years, they have no jobs? Are they not entitled to a livelihood? This boils down to one of the P’s of nation-building – politics – which talks about governance and leadership.
“If that (leadership) is not properly taken care of, every other thing will go haywire,” he said.
“We must ask, ‘What do we do with our people? How do we raise and value them? How do we value them?’
“We have over 20 million out-of-school children. Google how many countries in the world have less than 20m. That doesn’t worry us? Are you thinking there will be no Boko Haram tomorrow?
“Those are the foundations of your Boko Haram tomorrow. That should be our concern. We should not say it is externally induced. Is poverty also externally induced? Poverty is the conscious, unconscious choice of our leaders. If we say no; it would be no. If we say yes; it would be yes,” Obasanjo explained.
The Boko Haram insurgency began in Bauchi in July 2009 and extended to other northern states, killing hundreds of followers, Nigerian law enforcement agents, and civilians.
The following year, acts such as bombings, mass shootings, and executions began to grow in the Northeast and other sections of the country.
