Boko Haram: FAO Moves Global Meeting Out of Nigeria

Source: thewillnigeria.com
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SAN FRANCISCO, SEPTEMBER 27, (THEWILL) – Consequences of the August 26 terrorist bombing of the United Nations (UN) headquarters in Abuja for the country are yet to abate, the latest being the loss, to Senegal, of the right to host the global food security meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), earlier scheduled for Abuja. The meeting is an assemblage of experts and food administrators all over the globe.

FAO, in a letter to the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), hinged the venue shift on UN’s until-further-notice suspension of all official travels to Nigeria, but also cited security threats and the activities of terrorist groups such as Boko Haram. It named Dakar, Senegal, the new host of the meeting, which holds on October 6 and 7, 2011.

“Following the regrettable and tragic bomb blast of the UN building in Abuja, all UN official travels to Nigeria have been suspended until further notice. For your information, an Organising Team has been set up since to coordinate the meeting preparation,” the statement read.

Asides the bombing on August 26 that claimed 23 lives including 11 UN personnel, local Islamic fundamentalist sect, Boko Haram, has, until late, been orchestrating series of isolated attacks predominantly in northern Nigeria; and is believed to still be targeting centres of international attraction, especially in the Federal Capital Territory. It has also been issuing repeated threats of its determination to eradicate all forms of western education, which it considers sinful, a move that has disrupted academic calendars in a number of tertiary institutions in the country, including the premier University of Ibadan, where schedule of second-semester examinations for the ongoing session has been consequently rendered haphazard.