No territory under terror group, says Fed Govt

“The caricature of a government sleepwalking into disaster was predictable from a correspondent, who jets briefly in and out of Nigeria on the same British Airways flight he so criticises.

“He highlights rising banditry in Nigeria as proof of such slumber.

“What he leaves out are the security gains made over two Presidential terms. The terror organisation Boko Haram used to administer an area the size of Belgium at the inauguration; now, they control no territory.

“The first comprehensive plan to deal with decades-old clashes between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers – experienced across the width of the Sahel – has been introduced: pilot ranches are reducing the competition for water and land that drove past tensions.

“Banditry grew out of such clashes. Criminal gangs took advantage of the instability, flush with guns that flooded the region following the Western-triggered implosion of Libya.

“The situation is grave. Yet as with other challenges, it’s one that the government would face down.”