Obasanjo: Boko Haram’s grievances legitimate

Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of Nigeria, believes that the Boko Haram sect has legitimate grievances. 

Criticising the response of the current administration to the insurgency, Obasanjo highlighted low level of education in the northern part of the country as a contributory factor to the situation.

He was speaking on Monday during a global education conference in Dubai, United Araba Emirates (UAE).

In an interview with IBTimes UK on the sidelines of the Global Education Forum conference in Dubai, Obasanjo said that while 79% of Nigerians received education in the south west of the country and 77% in the south east, in the Boko Haram stronghold of the north east that figure was just 19%.

"We don't need anyone to tell us that that is a problem. A problem of disparity, a problem of marginalisation. A problem because education is fundamental to your employability, to your living conditions. If you are not educated you are handicapped," he said.

But he said that while improving access to education was the carrot, the stick had to come first, and criticised the current administration of President Goodluck Jonathan for failing to act fast enough in taking the fight to Boko Haram. That failure, he said, had given the group confidence to spread to neighbouring Chad and Cameroon.

"The response of the government initially was definitely not enough. When Boko Haram started showing their fangs about four years ago the reaction should have been firm and unmistakable. We have lost ground," he said.

Obasanjo said that the spread of Boko Haram into other countries had provoked a regional response and that both Chad and Cameroon were involved in the military campaign against the terror group.