Boko Haram putting Nigeria under stress -Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday admitted that the country was currently passing through stress orchestrated by the violence being perpetrated by members of the Boko Haram sect. He said that was why his administration had resolved to tackle the insurgency from different fronts. Jonathan spoke while inaugurating a steering committee for the Safe Schools Initiative at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The committee, which is co-chaired by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and a former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, also has Aliko Dangote, Nduka Obaigbena, as well as governors of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states among others as members.  He said, “This country is passing through stress within this period caused by the excesses of the Boko Haram sect and our government has been approaching it from different fronts. “We always insist that the defence or security does not end terror but we need to stop collateral damage on innocent people. “For us to win the war, we need to look at it holistically: economic issues, educational issues, religious issues, socio-cultural issues etc. “At the federal level, we have the Presidential Initiative in the North East (PINE). They are looking at the totality of what the Federal Government can do in collaboration with stakeholders.” The President said he had already received a copy of the report of the North East Economic Summit and that based on that report, his administration was looking at areas where government would come in. He said the Safe Schools Initiative was one of the areas where his government was intervening. He decried the high rate of school dropout in some of the states which he said had risen to 70 per cent in some states, saying that was not acceptable to his administration. He said Brown pioneered the initiative with government to see how they could tap global fund for school security. Jonathan said he was also coming up with Victims Support Fund with the aim of assisting victims of terror attacks. He said he would inaugurate the fund on July 16