The President of Chad Republic, Idriss Itno, on Saturday lamented the impact of Boko Haram around Lake Chad basin, describing the sect as evil.
Itno said this while answering questions from State House correspondents after a meeting he had with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He lamented that the sect’s activities had so far affected four countries of the Lake Chad basin.
He said a situation where the Multinational Joint Task Force embarks on just one operation in a whole year also contributed to the difficulty in defeating the terrorists.
Itno, however expressed optimism that with the new strategies being deployed and new officers with fresh ideas being assigned to take over commands at both national and regional levels, the defeat of the various terror groups, including Boko Haram and the Islamic State, West African Province is imminent.
He said, “Boko Haram is indeed an evil that has hampered the four countries of the Lake Chad Basin and it has done many harm to our populations.
“It would be remembered that since 2013/2014, the four countries put together their means to create the Multinational Joint Task Force. The task force has had good results.
“Unfortunately, the resilience of Boko Haram and the Islamic State in the Lake Chad Basin has been unprecedented. They are being supplied, trained and formed through Libya.
“The MNJTF has done a lot of work and as you have seen recently, we have had exchanges on this with my brother on the way ahead.
“With the new team of the Chief of Defence Staff and the new commander that has been appointed at the Multinational Joint Task Force, they were convinced that we can eradicate Boko Haram.
“There is a lot of hope on this new team, with this new strategy. I remain confident that the four armies of the four countries can finish this evil and eradicate Boko Haram once and for all.”
Itno said the challenges facing Nigeria and Chad were also discussed at the bilateral meeting with Buhari.
He said the meeting also discussed various bilateral relations between the two countries and how to strengthen those bilateral relations.
He added that they discussed the issue of Islamic State and the challenges its members pose to the two countries as well as the Lake Chad environment.
He said they also talked about transportation from Chad, which is a landlocked country by road and the possibility of constructing roads as well as rail from Chad through Nigeria, and to Port Harcourt, where goods that are coming in will be able to be transferred to Chad.
