R-L: Acting President Yemi Osinbajo with General Thomas D. Waldhauser, Commander, US-Africa Command. FEB 22 2017. PHOTO: NOVO ISIORO.Nigeria’s Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday, called for a review of some legal instruments and conventions to better fight terrorism, an unconventional warfare that needs new rules.
Mr. Osinbajo spoke during a meeting with members of the United Nations Security Council who are on a visit to the country, his spokesman, Laolu Akande said in a statement.
“We must, on a global scale look again at how to deal with these new challenges. We need to look at the governing conventions, what type of legal categories, recognition of law we should give them (to the perpetrators of terror and insurgents). We need to re-examine how to deal with these individuals according to law,” Osinbajo said.
He assured that the Nigerian government will review the rules of engagement, by the military and across the nation’s security system, and take into considerations human rights issues.
Osinbajo said the Buhari Social Investment Programmes including the Conditional Cash Transfer, the GEEP Micro Credit scheme and the N-Power job programme will cater to the developmental needs of the Northeastern parts of the country affected by the insurgency.
“We are already disbursing the cash transfers in some IDP camps and host communities,” he said, adding that the Buhari administration is also implementing a microcredit scheme, trying to use the Social Investment Programmes to resuscitate the local economies, including through the Anchor Borrowers’ plan for farmers.
He urged the international community to support the FG in the area of humanitarian response.
The United Nations Security Council members were led by the United Kingdom’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Mathew Rycroft, who lead all the five permanent members and the ten non-permanent members of the Council to the presidential villa.
Ambassador Rycroft praised the Nigerian government for its handling of the humanitarian challenge in the Northeast, and called for a long term developmental outlook in the region, addressing issues of good governance, human rights, women’s participation, economic revival, education and jobs.