The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo has said that Nigeria would deploy extreme measures to curb violent extremism which has stunted economic growth over the years.

The Vice President made this disclosure at a special dialogue session on democracy, human rights and countering violent extremism in Abuja on Monday.

The dialogue, which had the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, as the special guest,  formed part of activities lined up for his two-day visit.

Osinbajo said the government must intervene directly in some cases in providing job opportunities and also offering an alternative narrative to the one of extremism and violence.

“All positions, no matter how exposed, ride upon some modicum of truth though often perverted which the poor and the rejected may well find convincing. Government must seek progressive allies to ensure the radical strain does not grow and predominate. We must acknowledge, expose and provide convincing reasons and in a language understandable by the target audience as false or misleading,’’ he said.

The Vice President further said that government needed to be held accountable to promote sustainable development.

He also added that there was need to introduce a bottom-up social and economic planning approach to strengthen democracy and build a transparent and inclusive society.

He gave assurance of Nigeria’s support to the provisions of the sustainable development goals, SDGs, and the country’s commitment to support smaller countries in line with the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.

The UN scribe in his response, while urging Nigeria to support the SDGs, said the global body would continue to support it in its stride towards economic growth and development of human capital.