Boko Haram currently collects tax, provide basic services for residents of Borno communities– Archbishop Of Kaduna says

The Archbishop of Kaduna Catholic Diocese, the Most Reverend Mathew Ndago-Manoso has alleged that Boko Haram members still operate freely in some communities in Borno state as they provide basic services for members of some communities and collect tax from them.

Speaking in an interview with journalists at the ongoing Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Nigeria Catholic Diocese Priests’ Association in Kaduna, Ndago-Manoso said the Buhari government has failed Nigerians so much that they now turn to their enemy, Boko Haram, for their basic needs. He said Nigerians have never known the kind of suffering they know under this present administration. 

“Insecurity starts from where there is the absence of government. The absence of government in certain parts of the country has brought us to where we are today. Our problem has always been the management of resources of the land. Something is happening right now whether the government knows or not; it is that the splinter group of the Boko Haram is providing services to communities in Borno. They are collecting taxes because of the absence of government. This is dangerous.

“You see, in governance or democratic government if you know you don’t have the capacity to even rule a local government, don’t put yourself forward. The very fact that you put yourself forward you are telling the people that you have the capacity and the know-how.  Even if you don’t have the know-how I think in leadership, you don’t need to have the know-how. I think you should have the intelligence to get people who know to be able to do the job. Nobody, no matter how intelligent you are, you cannot do it alone.

“Now talking about the present government, I think the simple question that every Nigerian should ask is – my life today and my life before this government came in, what is the difference?. Go on the streets and ask Nigerians, four years on, how is your life compared to before?”

They come to my office in tears looking for ordinary food. You see them dressed up inagbada. But if they tell you what they are going through: they are not able to feed their families. It has never been this bad in our country.  We have the resources. I think our leaders should get off their back and do what they need to do, using our resources. We are not poor. We have no business overtaking India as the poorest country in the world. 

Officially our population has hit 200 million, and India has over 1.2 billion people, but the resources we have India does not have yet we have overtaken them in terms of poverty. I think is shameful” he said