Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has explained why Boko Haram insurgency remains insurmountable, noting that the country needed to face the root of the problem and not the symptoms.

The former President, speaking in an interview with BBC in Lagos, said that former President Goodluck Jonathan did not take the issue of the insurgency seriously, thinking that it was only a ploy by the North to bring down his government.

“I went out in 2011 to Maiduguri. I took great risk to find out what is really happening about Boko Haram. Do they have grievances? If they have grievances, what are their grievances? And I brought all that to Jonathan.

“Jonathan didn’t believe that Boko Haram was a serious issue. He thought that it was a device by the North to prevent him from continuing as President of Nigeria, which was rather unfortunate,” Obasanjo said.

He further said that the insurgency may not end soon, unless the main issues – underdevelopment, unemployment, and youth frustration in the North East – are treated.