President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan yesterday insisted that the Boko Haram terrorist group has a lot of external influence from outside Africa.

He made the claim while speaking to reporters yesterday at the Presidential Palace in N’Djamena after a closed-door meeting with his Chadian counterpart, President Idris Deby.

President Jonathan said that their talks focused mainly on security and economic cooperation. He stressed that it had become even more imperative for all countries in the region to work together to overcome terrorism and other criminal activities across their borders.

His words: “If you look at the economies of Nigeria and Chad both are linked. The Boko Haram people don’t take permission to move from Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Nigeria.

“If the countries do not cooperate, we will not find it easy to win the war, because when the heat is strong in one country, the criminals and terrorists will go to another one and hide.

“So we must work together and we are discussing along that line.”

President Jonathan recalled that his visit to Chad was the second in the last one month, noting that it underscored the importance of building a “robust relationship” between both countries to improve trade, economic and security ties.

He said that discussions between both countries on cooperation in the ICT sector were ongoing and expressed optimism that more proficient use of modern technology will help greatly to address economic and security challenges in the region.

President Jonathan, who was accompanied on the one-day official visit by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali, and the Director-General the National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ayodele Oke, has returned to Abuja.

•Photo shows President Jonathan.