By Victoria Ojeme

ABUJA— Ambassador of European Union Delegation to Nigeria and Economic Community of West African States, Michel Arrion, said yesterday that the EU has committed about $35 million  to the country’s anti-curruption agencies.

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Ambassador Arrion made this disclosure while briefing the press ahead of President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Strasbourg, France to address members of the European Union on terrorism and anti-graft war.

He said:  “EU has committed about $35 million through on-going projects being implemented by the United Nations office targeted at various anti-corruption agencies.

“On the issue of terrorism, the ambassador said EU was working with the office of the National Security Adviser, NSA, towards strengthening the capacity of Nigerian security challenges, particularly those posed by terrorism.

“The EU programme with the office of NSA aims to reduce radicalism through community engagement and engagement with prisoners and detainees as well as respect for human rights in law enforcement operations.”

Describing the situation in the North-East as deplorable, especially among the Internally Displaced Persons’ camps, he cautioned that the military must combine their operations with intelligence and humanitarian responses in tackling terrorism.

According to him, soft approach is necessary in handling the activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria. You must provide security response as well as understand the reason people are falling into the trap of Boko Haram.”

He attributed the problem partly to poverty, illiteracy and negligence on the part of the central government towards good governance and lack of social justice.

He said: “You will never win a war if you do not behave well. The security forces must comply with the basic rule of human rights. If the security forces do not protect the citizens, they will not trust them and consequently, will not cooperate with them.”

He, however, noted that global approach to addressing extreme hostility would be the main point at the summit.

He blamed the economic challenge confronting the country on the fallen oil price, noting that government’s recent push to diversify the economy and make it less dependent on oil was a welcome development.

He said: “The EU believes that the lingering upheaval in the international oil market is both a challenge and an opportunity for Nigeria to leverage on its abundant resources as Africa’s most populous and biggest economy to create wealth for its people and lift majority from poverty.”

Ambassador Arrion also believed that reduction of import duties would motivate importers to ship their goods through Nigerian ports, thereby boosting revenue from import duties.