The Borno State Government on Tuesday, May 19, 2015 said the sum of over 20 million dollars was needed to resettle persons displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency back to their homelands.
Speaking to a delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Maiduguri, led by its President, Mr. Peter Maurer, the Borno State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Zannah Mustapha, who was representing the Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, said the state government needed the assistance of all, including the Federal Government and international donor agencies, to rehabilitate the internally displaced persons.
At the peak of the insurgency, 22 of the 27 local governments of the state were captured by the insurgents, which led to about two million internally displaced people fleeing to Maiduguri, the state capital, and many others taking refuge in neighbouring countries of Niger, Cameroon and Chad, reports the Punch.
Mustapha noted that since the displacement of many residents from their communities by Boko Haram insurgents, the state government has had to shoulder the responsibility of feeding the IDPs through the State Emergency Management Agency.
He said that even though military troops had liberated most of the communities under the control of Boko Haram in the state, the people still found it difficult to go back to their homes and pick up the pieces of their lives due to security reports that warned most of the roads and streets leading to the affected communities and their farmlands were not safe as Improvised Explosive Devices and landmines had been planted by departing terrorists.
He however commended the effort of the Red Cross for its humanitarian assistance to the victims of the insurgency.
“We, the government and good people of Borno State, want to use this opportunity to thank you (Red Cross), NEMA and other donor agencies for supporting us in this our trying moment. Twenty-two out of the 27 local government areas were destroyed. Over one million IDPs are living in Maiduguri, the state capital, alone.
“Just yesterday, we received another batch of 4,500 IDPs from Geidam who were sent away by the government of Niger Republic and more are still on their way to Maiduguri.”
