He revealed that the religious leaders’ joint work with government would depict the group “as terrorists, devoid of any moral or philosophical direction”.

The president said that a lot of ground has been covered in the effort to expose the terrorist sect as “ruthless, destructive, and misguided terrorists’’.

“What we have succeeded in doing is to separate terrorism from religion.

“The initial attraction for recruitments was religion, but now people cannot relate with their relevance anymore and they are only associated with the destruction of lives and property.

“If your life does not mean anything to you, other peoples’ lives will not mean anything to you as well.

“And people are beginning to see that Boko Haram is just about destruction and nothing else,’’ he said.

Buhari also told the new ambassador of his administration’s continued prioritization of the diversification of the Nigerian economy and other measures to help the Nigeria’s economy withstand the shock of falling oil prices.

Verdesoto was at the Aso Rock to present his letter of credence to President Buhari.