H.E. Mr. Felix Yusufu Pwol:

I share most of the sentiments exprssed in Deputy Bernard J. Durkan's commentary. We should uphold the education of girls, which is part of the challenge we face. It is a very abnormal, awkward situation. We thought we were moving in the right direction before this unfortunate destruction. As I mentioned, while we may have had some cultural issues, we had moved much further. The constitution and education Acts encourage the education of girls. I hope members will visit Nigeria one of these days to see and understand what I am saying. I agree with most of the statements made - it is a violation of human rights. Nigeria is a member of the Human Rights Council. As a nation, we came from military rule but have made tremendous progress.

I disagree with Deputy Eric Byrne. We must be very clear. The fact that a group wants to create an Islamic state does not make the current insurgency a religious war. They are two different things. People could use religion for political purposes, but that does not mean a country is experiencing a religious war. We are nowhere near what Lebanon experienced in the past. This issue is very clear. The constitution makes it clear that Nigeria is a secular state. When an insurgent group states it wants to create an Islamic state and has been wreaking havoc, we should be very cautious in trying to understand the facts. As far as I know, BBC journalists have been to Chibok. I have mentioned that the press in Nigeria is one of the freest. People have been there and seen. I am not aware of any religious war in Nigeria. Which country does not have religious skirmishes from time to time? Does this degenerate to calling it a religious war?

These are some of the things I want the committee to have. I mentioned information management. In this kind of a delicate situation that we are in, it is important. Some of our journalists do not seem to understand the complexity of the issues and the challenges. It is not just making news but trying to get the correct news for people to understand the issues. That is equally important. We have a freedom of information Act but its use must be weighted. It is just like the talk about human rights. If it violates somebody else's rights, what rights are we talking about then? We should try to distinguish clearly this question of religious war or religious commissions and so on before we get into very dicey situations.

Reference was made to the relationship with the federal Government. We have a constitution that recognises three types of government: federal, 36 states at the intermediate level and 774 local government areas similar to counties in Ireland. The jurisdiction of the courts is clear. Even where there are Sharia courts, they are predominantly Islamic states. One also has to look at the issues brought before those courts. Apart from Islamic courts, we have customary area courts. They would not have the traditional high courts or magistrates courts that are familiar to most people in the western world so it is important to understand these distinctions. If there is Sharia law in, say, Kebbi state, first, one has to be a Muslim to be subjected to that kind of law, second, there is a customary area court if one is not a Muslim and then we have the magistrate courts and as one climbs the ladder, one goes to the state high court, then to the federal high court and to the court of appeal and the supreme court. It is important for people to understand this distinction and not assume that when Sharia law is mentioned, it is just applied. The limitation of powers is not as neat as we think it is and sometimes one has to go to court to clarify some of the issues.

Reference was then made to economic deprivation in the north. It could be a factor and I do not rule it out. It is easier to recruit somebody who is hungry and unemployed than somebody who is well fed and has a job but that cannot also be a licence to foment problems. Does it mean if we are past our problems, it now gives us a right to attack certain people when we have clear laws that guide these things? I have mentioned so many avenues for people to seek redress from the Public Complaints Commission to even the Federal Character Commission. If a particular state or part of Nigeria feels it is being marginalised, it has every right to raise it after the courts. That organisation will be asked to bring documents. There is the press like I mentioned. We have parliamentary committees at the state and federal level where people can seek redress.

With regard to the economic depression the member mentioned, people have brought issues such as why a project was not sited in a location or why routes or schools were not constructed. These are taken into consideration at budgetary sessions. Even in the north east, there will be spatial provision to address many of the issues and challenges that were mentioned from security of schools to economic infrastructure that has been destroyed. For example, electricity lines, mobile telephone towers and so on have been vandalised. It is a comprehensive programme and it is complex. It has to be divided into short term, medium term and long term. The Government was not enthusiastic in replying with force to force but was left with little or no option.

I agree that economic deprivation could be a factor but I do not know whether I have the time to go into this because I do not want to get into the blame game of how these things evolved. The important thing is if there are economic challenges, I believe the way forward is what should be done to address them. This is what the Government has been trying to do, even though we have a federal structure with a National Economic Council where the federal and state governments meet regularly to address many of these issues. In a federal structure, some states are far richer than others and, therefore, one must find a way and see how one brings up those that are less fortunate in terms of resources - human, natural and so on.

In response to Senator Mullins, media attention was quite high. We have more than 100 newspapers, more than 100 radio stations and approximately 200 television stations. No issue has generated more coverage apart from soccer. To emphasise the seriousness of this matter, this is a fairly new phenomenon and I believe it has brought greater awareness of our security that we used to take for granted. Community policing is what the federal Government has been working hard on to see if we learn the principles of such policing from other societies where the police will collaborate with the village, districts and communities and exchange views on how many of these problems can be addressed.

On human rights, Nigeria passed a law on same-sex marriage. That is just one aspect. We need to understand this thing from a proper cultural perspective. The analogy I use when I am asked about this by people is the way many western people react when they hear about polygamy in Africa. People find it strange here. Likewise when one mentions same-sex marriage, people begin to wonder probably because it is not the practice. I believe many of us know it is not because something is wrong but simply because one is not used to it, one tends to think it is wrong probably by one's own assessment. I do not know whether there is any empirical validation of some of the cultural beliefs we hold today.

We have come a long way on human rights. In the past ten or 15 years and particularly in the past three years, one can see the commendable achievements of our law enforcement agencies. We have tried to learn from best practice in peackeeping operations, on which we have worked closely with Ireland. I believe every country still has challenges but it is also important to see the progress that has been made and how we can make better progress.

The committee can help us to throw light on some of these issues that people understand. A few year ago, many countries thought they could take on the security challenges alone but, day by day, we are seeing that it is becoming more intractable and complex and even in some countries it would appear there is a safe haven for some of these elements.

I believe the meeting in France, the UN Security Council resolution and the action taken by the African Union and ECOWAS are a clear indiction that we are moving in the right direction. We in Nigeria are very optimistic that, given the support we are getting from very many friendly countries, we shall make headway. All of us are concerned and are praying that the girls will be brought to safety. That is the fundamental issue that concerns the Government as we speak.

If there is any issue I did not address, the members might let me know.