ABUJA – The Miners Association of Nigeria said on Friday that the signing of the ceasfire agreement between the Federal Government and Boko Haram was a welcome development.
The Vice President of the association, Mr Edward Danladi, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone that the insecurity situation had negatively affected the economic fortunes of the country.
He cited the low participation of foreign companies in the just-concluded Abuja International Trade Fair as one of the manifestations of the crisis in the northeast.
He said this development contrasted with previous edition which used to record high level of participants from abroad.
Danladi said the agreement was expected to positively affect the nation’s economy as the country could not afford insecurity at this level of its economic development.
“The agreement will affect the economic sector of the country positively as the country in a period of development whereby it desperately needs peace and security”, he told NAN.
According to him, the insurgency limited economic activities in the region and axis of trade between the northeast and other parts of the country was also limited.
He said with the new development, the business activities would pick up again as Boko Haram members would no longer operate freely again.
Some Nigerians on Friday also lauded the Federal Government peace deal with the Boko haram sect.
In his reaction, a lawyer, Mr John Abu, said that the activities of the sect had caused a lot of economic losses to the northeast region of the country.
“You know that since the beginning of terrorism activities in that region economic activities have been on the decline,” he said.
According to Abu, the five-year siege on the region by Boko Haram has not only impacted negatively on that region, but Nigeria as a whole.
He told NAN that activities of the insurgents had prevented foreign investors from coming to invest in the country for the fear of the unknown.
Similarly, Alhaji Umar Bello, a contractor, said that the peace deal would encourage more investments in the region which was dreaded by Nigerians.
He urged the federal government to, as a matter of priority, help the region by investing in critical sectors to alleviate the loss of the people.
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Umar urged Nigerian businessmen to invest more money in the region, adding that the gesture would go a long way in alleviating the suffering of the people.
Also speaking, the Programmes Manager, Ambassadors Initiative for Development and Empowerment, an NGO, Mr Yusuf Goje, said the ceasefire agreement was good development.
He said it was interesting that the federal government had decided to take a non-violent approach to ending the insurgency in the north.
He also urged the federal government to sustain the agreement through proper implementation.
Goje said if both parties keep to the terms of the agreement it would bring economic development of the area as the people would return to their economic and social activities.
NAN reports that the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, disclosed the ceasefire with Boko Haram in Abuja.
He spoke at the close of the three-day coordinating conference of the Nigeria-Cameroon trans-border military operations. (NAN)
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