The Nigerian government is seeking greater cooperation with neighbouring countries in the fight against terrorism.
The move is coming as attacks by the Boko Haram sect on citizens in the Northeast have escalated in recent weeks leaving dozens dead between February and March.
In a meeting held on Friday with a Special Envoy of President Paul Biya of Cameroon, Mr Emmanuel Sadi Rene, President Goodluck Jonathan said that Boko Haram and other criminal groups operating in the countries’ border regions must be seen as a common threat to countries bordering Nigeria in the north east.
Full Cooperation
“Nigeria and its neighbours must take urgent action to harmonise their strategies and efforts to roll-back the menace of Boko Haram and other violent criminal gangs that operate between their borders,” he said.
Mr. Rene conveyed President Biya’s assurance to President Jonathan, stressing that Cameroon is committed to cooperating fully with Nigeria to combat all forms of terrorism and cross-border criminality.
He also assured President Jonathan that the Cameroonian Government would never allow its territory to become a safe haven for terrorists or a base for the destabilisation of Nigeria.
There have been calls for the review of the treaties with the neighbouring countries to enable Nigerian soldiers chase terrorist into neighbouring countries, as carrying out military operations in any neighbouring country without a proper agreement would amount to violation of the country’s sovereignty.
The Nigerian government had deployed military personnel to the north east in an effort to quell the insurgency, but the military operations have made little achievements.
Critics have said that political leaders in Nigeria lacked the political will to tackle the insurgency.
An attack by the Boko Haram sect on a military barrack in Maiduguri on Friday morning was repelled by the military, but left heightened tension in the town, as several bomb blasts were heard during the attack.
There was also tension in the University of Maiduguri, as students had thought that the school was under attack.
The spokesman for the Joint Task Force, Major General Chris Olukolade, said the members of the terrorist group were trying to gain access into the barrack and free their members that were on detention.
On Tuesday, the military had paraded several suspected members of the Boko Haram it captured in the border between Nigeria and Chard.
A Statement by Major General Olukolade had said that the captured terrorists, in their confession, revealed that they had been given a directive by clerics to dismantle their camps and that the operation of the sect had come to an end as the mission could no longer be sustained.
But Friday attack on the military barrack in Maiduguri has created doubts that they are bringing the mission to an end.