President Muhammadu Buhari has called on the Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit to provide concrete support to defeat terrorism and insurgency in Africa.

Buhari stated this on Saturday in Istanbul at the third edition of the Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit, according to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, titled, ‘Turkey-Africa Summit: President Buhari calls for concrete support to defeat terrorism in Africa’.

Buhari said the Boko Haram terrorist group, though fragmented by internal strife and degraded by Nigeria’s defence forces, was still active and preying on soft targets.

He expressed delight that the summit convened by President Recep Erdogan of Turkey had given due consideration to the issue of terrorism, while also focusing on development and infrastructure in Africa.

He said, ‘‘Another area this partnership must focus on is the global challenge of climate change which is impacting us in Nigeria, Turkey, across Africa, and indeed across the world. It has become a catalyst for conflict through food insecurity, drying up of lakes, loss of livelihood and youth migration, among others.

‘‘The trend is the same around the world where communities are overwhelmed by forest fires, rising sea levels, flood, drought and desertification.”

Buhari appealed for support for initiatives such as Africa’s Great Green Wall on Environment and Land Management, which, he said, were designed to fight the effects of climate change and desertification in Africa.

‘‘The initiative aims to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land in the 11 countries of the Sahel-Sahara strip, capture 250 million tonnes of carbon and create 10 million green jobs by 2030,’’ he added.

On the coronavirus pandemic and its emerging variants, the President urged nations to follow the example of Africa-Turkey cooperation, which emphasises solidarity and support in tackling the challenge.