Jonathan tells world leaders, We must unite against terrorism

President Goodluck Jonathan has  called on the international community to do more to support countries like Nigeria which are in the frontline of the war against terrorism.
He further challenged world leaders to rise up and act in unison immediately to stop the troubling new phenomenon of terrorists and foreign fighters attacking and trying to hold parts of sovereign nations.
The President while admit­ting the daunting challenges in checking the activities of the sect,  disclosed that his administration  has remained determined in mobilising all the resources at its  disposal to ensure that the scourge of terrorism is rooted out of the country. In addition, he said the nation’s counterterrorism efforts involves  initiatives to alleviate the plight of the pop­ulation in the affected commu­nities.
He disclosed that so far, “over 13,000 people have been killed by Boko Haram, they have also razed communities and hundreds of persons kid­napped, the most prominent being the Chibok  Secondary School girls in April, in Borno state, North-East Nigeria.
Addressing the United Na­tions Security Co
uncil High-Level Meeting on the Threat of Terrorism to Global Peace and Security, Jonathan said, “There is no doubt that foreign fighters have added a troubling dimension to this emerging phase of terrorism. From tar­geted attacks by Al Qaeda a few years ago, we now have mobile bands of thousands of terrorists sweeping across vast areas, destroying lives, and even attempting to hold terri­tory. This is unacceptable; we must act now.
“We must capitalize on the commitment and evident de­termination of the Security Council to seek more innova­tive responses to the threat of terrorism and in particular to the growing menace of foreign fighters.
“The Council should be concerned about the existence of sources of arming and fund­ing terrorists. Evidence has shown that Boko Haram, for instance, is resourced largely from outside our country.
“We must also commit to ensuring that countries which are in the frontline of this challenge, receive adequate support from the international community.
“Only by united action and firm resolve can we check this raging threat to humanity, and also build the enduring struc­tures that will resist their re-emergence,” he said.
President Jonathan assured the Security Council that his administration will  continue to confront the menace of ter­rorism with unrelenting deter­mination.
“Nigeria knows too well the destructive effects of ter­rorist activities. Over the past five years, we have been, and are still confronting threats posed by Boko Haram to peace and stability predomi­nantly in the North Eastern part of our country.
“As daunting as the chal­lenge may be, we have faced it with unrelenting deter­mination, mobilising all the resources at our disposal to ensure that the scourge of ter­rorism is rooted out of our na­tion. In addition to our coun­terterrorism efforts, we have evolved initiatives to alleviate the plight of the population in the affected communities.
“These include a holistic effort through the Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE) which is aimed at pro­viding immediate relief and fast tracking the infrastructural re-development of the region.  It also has as a core goal, an integrated effort at achieving the de-radicalisation of poten­tial terrorist recruits.
“We have also launched a Victims Support Fund which has already raised about 500 million dollars of the expected minimum of one billion dol­lars in direct support of the victims of acts of terrorism. This is in addition to the Safe Schools Initiative championed by Mr. Gordon Brown, for­mer British Prime Minister and currently the UN Special Envoy for Global Education which is being rigorously sup­ported by Nigeria’s Federal Government,” he said.
news source: sun news