Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-03-14-Speech-3-522-000"
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"en.20120314.27.3-522-000"2
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"Mr President, thank you for the debate. I think it has been a very interesting one. As I said, I have formed new impressions as a result of my visit to Nigeria, and I would like to communicate these further in relation to some of the things that have been said. After that, I will hand over the floor to the Commissioner, who will take over from there.
I would like to start by saying that there are some who have an interest in turning this into a religious conflict – a dramatic religious clash. That is what Boko Haram wants – namely, for this to become a huge religious conflict. I believe that we need to be very careful not to fall into its trap in a country where members of different religions sit together in the same government, a country where people marry people of different religions, where people of different religions live side by side, and a country that, of all places, is capable of avoiding a major religious clash. I believe that we should be very careful about playing the religious game. Having said that, this is actually a fight for the right of all religions to be practised, protected and taken care of. I believe that, in this debate, we must remember that the first to be killed if Boko Haram gets a hold will be the Muslim groups who are carrying out attacks up in the northern part of the country.
I also agree with those who deeply regretted the attacks by the same organisation on 8 March. We expressed our sincere condolences to the families of the victims. We condemn these acts as exactly what they are: criminal acts. It is a criminal act to kill other people, irrespective of what argument you use to justify it. I believe it is important to repeat that there is no argument on earth that gives people the right to take the lives of other people for the sake of a political issue. Therefore, those who do this must be brought to justice. They must be sentenced and put in prison. They must not be elevated to the status of martyrs for what they have done. Killing other people is purely and simply a crime.
I hope that some of you will have the chance to visit Nigeria’s political leaders, both its President and a number of its ministers. I also hope that you will return with the same impression that I had, namely, that it is very rare to see an African country that has political leaders of such high moral strength and great competence. That is also what we need, because they are facing huge challenges in relation to the fact that this is a country with a very young population and a high level of illiteracy, a country that is, to a large degree, bound to oil as its only source of income, a country that has problems with terrorism up in the north and one that also has the prospect of doubling its population over the next 40 years. That is rather a tall order for a government if it also has the task of governing a poor country. That is precisely why it is so good that it has a government with such high moral standards as it has right now.
It is worth noting that even in this situation, with these odds, Nigeria is able to play its part as a stabilising factor in relation to the areas of West Africa, which, incidentally, have experienced very high economic growth in recent years. I also agree with all those who said that it is crucial for a country like Nigeria, which is not a poor country, to ensure a better distribution of wealth in order to benefit the many and to combat corruption. That is what they are trying to do, but the people leading the fight against corruption do not stay very long in the job – as it is a relatively dangerous job! With these comments, I wish you well for the continuation of the debate. We need the European Parliament to keep an eye on what is happening in this country, which may perhaps end up being the world’s third largest country in terms of population size over the course of the next 40 years."@en1
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