Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali says the challenges of the post-insurgency war in the North-East are huge, especially as they have to do with reconstructing the region and resettling the displaced people.

Dan-Ali made the remark in Abuja, when he declared open a roundtable organised by the Africa Media Roundtable Initiative on insurgency in the North-East.

Represented by a Director in the Ministry of Defence, Otuwe Iro, he called on youths and civil society organisations to play their roles in ensuring sustainable unity and peace in the country.

The minister expressed happiness that NGOs were concern with challenges in the nation, including security posed by the terrorists and other criminal elements.

While saying the Federal Government was committed to peace, security and indivisibility of the country, he urged all Nigerians to refrain from acts that could breach security.

According to him, security is everybody’s business.

In a message to the occasion, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said his ministry had embarked on public enlightenment in mobilising Nigerians to support military effort in the North-East.

Represented by a Deputy Director in the ministry, Florence Chetden, Mohammed said the war against the Boko Haram terrorists was not for the military alone and urged everyone to contribute their quota.

Everybody must contribute to end the war,’’ he said.

The minister commended the military, saying that in spite of inadequacies and challenges, they had achieved a great task which in time past people thought to be impossible.

The minister urged Nigerians not to see the Boko Haram insurgency as a religious war, but a group of people with evil and selfish agenda.

Executive Director, Africa Media Roundtable Initiative and convener of the roundtable, Omoluabi Adeyemi, stressed the need to change narrative of the war against insurgency.

The battle against insurgency has been won, but the war is still on. The war now is not that of armoury, gun or military but the people changing the narrative and proposing better alternatives.

He urged the media particularly the social media to key in, saying that there was no way success in that direction could be achieved without the media.

He said the roundtable was organised to appraise the war so far, humanitarian crisis and how to deal with it.