The Federal Government has made the sum of $1 billion available for the acquisition of military equipment in order to help prosecute the war against Boko Haram.
President Jonathan made the disclosure whilst addressing a session at the World Economic Forum Africa on the issues of insecurity in the North Eastern region of the country.
He said, “The first time a Nigerian was involved in terror was in December 2009 when a young Nigerian who grew up abroad wanted to bring down a plane that was going to the US.
“The reaction of Nigerians then was that that was strange; that it was because he grew up outside the country and came from a very wealthy family. So, it was not an issue of poverty but an issue of extremism.
“We never knew that we were really moving into crisis. It is a phenomenon that was never part of our problems.
“So it takes time for you to train the people; it takes time for you to build the security architecture and that is what we are improving on every day.
“Not too long ago, I gave an approval of over $1bn for us to acquire what we require. That is just not enough but that is just an example and it is of recent.
“I can guarantee that we shall bring this(terrorism) under control. Yes, it is difficult for any nation to say that it has the magic to wipe away issues of security challenges otherwise , a place like the US ,with the money and technology, people wouldn’t have been shot there as we hear every time.
“No one President can say yes, in a year or in a month there will be absolute peace but we are working hard. We are training our people and we are building capacity. And of course, we are getting assistance from other places that have experienced terror attacks.”
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