Illiteracy In The North Gave Rise To Boko Haram – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, says the lack of education in the north-east was what gave rise to Boko Haram.

Obasanjo 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.

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He said the if the level of education in the north-east matched what is obtainable in the south-west the terrorist group would have not evolved.

According to him, if the women, children and youth in the north-east are not educated now, they will become Boko Haram in the future

“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.

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“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.”

Founded in 2002, Boko Haram is a Jihadist militant organization based in northeastern Nigeria, also active in Chad, Niger and northern Cameroon

Since the current insurgency started in 2009, Boko Haram has killed tens of thousands and displaced 2.3 million from their homes and was ranked as the world’s deadliest terror group by the Global Terrorism Index in 2015.

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