President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday said that the Boko Haram insurgency in the North is not a result of government corruption and poverty in Nigeria.
In an interview with renowned CNN broadcast journalist, Christiane Amanpour, the president, who joined the interview from Davos, Switzerland, said the entire African continent is at risk of an insurgence if the scourge of terrorism in Nigeria is not contained.
“Boko Haram has link with other Al-Qaeda group in Mali and Algeria. That is why we are working with other African countries to contain it,” President Jonathan said.
Much of the focus of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s appearance on Capitol Hill on Wednesday was on the security risk posed by terror groups in Africa and the Middle East.
Mrs Clinton had told committee probing whether her department failed to appreciate and respond to the risks that led to the Benghazi attack that Boko Haram is one of the biggest threat to Africa.
Asked if Boko Haram was a result of misrule and poverty in Nigeria, President Jonathan said that is not correct, insisting that corruption and poverty have nothing to do with Boko Haram.
“Boko Haram is a local terrorist group and we call on the rest of the world to work with us in fighting this group,” he said.
Watch video below for complete interview.