Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has declared that it
is difficult to police the northeast.
The vice president also stated that attacks by the
Boko Haram insurgents would continue because
the region is a vast area.
His spokesman, Laolu Akande, in a statement,
quoted him as saying this during the Eid-al-adha
lunch held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
According to Osinbajo, the northeast is equivalent
of the whole of the United Kingdom plus Denmark
or Switzerland.
He said: "I was speaking to the UK Foreign
Minister a few days ago and I explained to him
how it is so difficult to police the northeast. I
said that this northeast that you speak about,
over the past two years, we have managed to
ensure that Boko Haram does not hold any
territory, but there are still opportunistic attacks
here and there.
"So, I explained to the Foreign Minister that we
are still going to experience these attacks
because of the vast area that we are dealing with.
I said that the northeast is equivalent of the
whole of the United Kingdom plus Denmark or
Switzerland. So, we are dealing with a vast
country.
"I have seen the vast farmlands of Kebbi, Jigawa
and Kano. The other day we were in Taraba, a
place that is already producing vegetables,
cucumbers, peppers and supplying the major
supermarkets in Lagos, Abuja and Kaduna that
used to import these vegetables. Just five
hectares of greenhouse in Taraba state is
producing the needs of all the major supermarkets
in Abuja, Kaduna and Lagos states.
"An Israeli farmer who works in one of those
greenhouses, on getting to Jalingo for the first
time and seeing the beautiful hills, sent a
message to his wife saying, “We are close to
heaven”. But by the time he got to Mambilla and
got to the plateau, he sent another message and
said, 'We are now in heaven!'
"This is a country that has all of what other
countries and people will spend money and other
resources to go in search of, all of the tourism
resources that people will spend money and get
visas to go and see.
"This lunch this afternoon is how God wants us
to be, to eat together, live together, work together
and build that nation that God had in mind. I
know that most of us here understand that plan
of God for us. I certainly look forward to that
country."