H. E. Mr. Felix Yusufu Pwol:

My first answer is in response to Deputy Crowe. He talked about structural problems. Perhaps I should provide brief background information about Nigeria. Nigeria celebrated its centenary anniversary in January marking 100 years of amalgamation. Nigeria has a population of between 160 and 170 million and contains more than 250 ethnic groups. What form of government would have been most suitable? The committee may be aware that the 1954 constitution made Nigeria a federal structure to address some of these concerns. There were three regions in 1954 and we now have 36 states. It aims to address some of the issues about which Deputy Crowe spoke such as marginalisation and deprivation. Our constitution contains a federal character commission. It is designed to see that positions are rationalised in terms of personnel in various statutory bodies. It also relates to the distribution of socioeconomic resources such as roads, schools, hospitals and so on. We had challenges with Biafra but I do not know of any country in Africa that went through a three year civil year that has had the kind of reconciliation we have had in Nigeria given the complexity I have just explained. We have more than 250 ethnic groups. No doubt there are challenges, but we are trying to address them through measures such as the federal structure.

There are a number of cultural factors relating to girls' education. Initially, Islamic education was emphasised but my colleague here is a Muslim and he will tell the committee that after Islamic education, many of the girls about whom we are talking embrace Western education. It is a deliberate government policy. There were no ladies in very senior appointments 30 or 40 years ago. Today, the chief justice of Nigeria is a lady and a lady has just been appointed to the court of appeal. For the first time in the history of Nigeria, there are about 11 female ministers and 18 secretaries general. We are aiming to get the number to 20 out of 42, which is a major step. I am not saying we have reached it but I want the committee to appreciate where we are coming from. It is important. I should also underscore that in the 54 years of independence from 1960, only 25 governments have been civilian. A total of 29 governments have been under military control. The committee knows what military rule is. It involves suspending a constitution. I know what many people said in 2003 when we had the first transition from one civilian government to another. People thought that hell would be let loose, but this did not happen. I agree that we have had challenges but we are trying our best to manage them.

In terms of the poverty that was alluded to, the current government has introduced a number of programmes. There is a programme called SURE-P, which stands for Subsidy, Re-investment & Empowerment. What does it mean? It means that if, after the budget, we have resources that are above what was budgeted for, that extra amount is put into programmes like start-up programmes for small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly for young college graduates and even for village women who want to start up small businesses. This programme is in its third year and has been a very big success. There is a programme called Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria, YouWiN, which identifies promising young entrepreneurs and their businesses. They are selected and linked up with a bank called the Bank of Industry to help them access credit to improve their businesses.

The war on terror does not merely involve the military-criminal aspect, on which I dwelt. The government has many programmes. Within the past year, we saw the national agricultural plan, the national industrial plan, the national health summit, the national sports summit and the national water summit. These have never been held in the history of the country. These are major five year programmes that are designed to address some of the challenges we face in the area of infrastructure. One was also held on education. The committee will be interested to note that every year we have about one million qualified students for third level education. Unfortunately, only half - between 400,000 and 500,000 - get that. It is because of this that in the past two years the current government has set up seven new universities to address this. Many of the programmes I mentioned are in partnership with the private sector to see how we can create jobs. In 2013, 1.1 million jobs were created in Nigeria. It is a still a long way off but we are trying our best.

In looking at these matters, it is important to see where we are coming from. I hope I have addressed most of the issues that have been raised. There is no doubt that poverty exists but poverty is not a licence to kill innocent people. We appreciate and acknowledge that there are challenges but that does not mean that one takes the lives of innocent people. If we start behaving like that, we will slide into anarchy.

Deputy O'Sullivan raised the issue of girls' education. I want to state that there are special programmes designed to encourage girls' education in Nigeria, particularly in northern Nigeria. We must admit that there have been cultural challenges but many of these communities are now realising that they need to educate their girls. This has been achieved through an aggressive campaign by the government, meetings, training programmes and showcasing those who have gone to school. As I mentioned, the current chief justice of Nigeria is a lady. For the first time, a two star general in the navy is a lady. These things were unheard of. It is a challenge in the police force but I can assure the committee it is being aggressively addressed.

I tend to disagree with Deputy O'Sullivan regarding a lack of urgency in seeing to the rescue of these girls. As I mentioned earlier, there are issues that it is not appropriate for us to discuss in a public hearing, which is why I do not want to go into details. It is the same thing regarding the question of whether troops were infiltrated. I do not wish to comment on it in this kind of setting. In a normal situation, one must follow certain procedures to pass laws, particularly those relating to the security of lives and property. The state of emergency means that one may waive some of these procedures that are required by the parliament to enable the government to take certain actions, for example, in the area of movement and communication. If necessary, one can suspend communication by mobile phones and so on. That is what it means. This measure was taken in full consultation. The security officials and members of the armed forces were invited to a meeting by both Houses of Parliament - the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Extensive discussions were held on whether it was necessary to continue with the state of emergency and they agreed to it. It was not the case that the President had decided to impose a state of emergency. Elders from the three states have met the President on several occasions and, as one would expect in a democracy, many people argued against the need to declare a state of emergency. The question that arose for them what to suggest as an alternative, but they could not produce a credible alternative. In a democracy, when one wants to substitute one option for another, one should be able to show the viability of the options proposed. It became very clear that, while people may have disagreed with the imposition of the state of emergency, in the scenario it seemed to be the better option.

The question on Boko Haram is interesting. I do not think the issues are confined to Nigeria. Most countries, both in the sub-region and on the African continent, now acknowledge that it must be part of the worldwide illegal network for the trafficking of arms. This is becoming obvious. What does this portend for the world? There is a need for increased co-operation and vigilance. In Nigeria we started a national identity card project several years ago. After many years of delay, it was launched last year, with the inclusion of a system for biometric identification. This forms part of our long-term goals. Similarly for the banking system, we know how financial institutions can contribute to money laundering and trafficking. This is how groups get the money for arms. A number of steps have been taken in this regard. We are introducing biometric identification for bank accounts in order that when somebody withdraws a certain amount of money, his or her identity can be known. These are examples of the long-term measures we are implementing to address the issues involved. They will not be easy to address, but I assure the committee that the government is not resting.

I hope I have thrown light on members' questions.