Displaced by terror attacks, thousands return home in Nigeria

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria

Hundreds of thousands of people displaced by terror attacks have started returning to their homes in Nigeria, Anadolu has learnt.

People had fled parts of Nigeria following attacks by terror groups Boko Haram and regional Daesh/ISIS group.

However, with government and civil society efforts to ensure security and livelihood, the displaced people have begun returning to their homes after nine years.

Governor Babagana Zulum of northeastern Borno State said the return of the displaced people was possible due to "significant" progress in fight against terrorism.

Some 300,000 people have returned to their homes in the state, he added.

According to the UN, 2.7 million people have been displaced by the ongoing Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria in 11 years, most of whom sought refuge in neighboring Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

Mohammed Kusha, regional director of a non-governmental organization Grassroots Initiative for Strengthening Social Resilience (GISCOR), confirmed to Anadolu that in past two months over 40,000 people had returned to their homes in Rann area of the Borno state.

New start of life

Kusha said that those who returned to their homes in the Rann region had previously sought refuge in Cameroon

For rehabilitation of the returnees, Kusha said that one third of the houses set ablaze by Boko Haram have been built by the government.

He added that with the cooperation of GISCOR and the government, the returnees have started to learn trade and skills in order to live a new life.

Boko Haram, which has been present in Nigeria since the early 2000s, has killed more than 20,000 people across the country in mass terrorist attacks since 2009.

Since 2015, the Boko Haram terrorists have also been carrying out attacks in neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced from their homes due to the attacks organized by Boko Haram and ISWAP, the West African branch of the terrorist Daesh, in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states in the northeast of Nigeria.

*Writing by Serdar in Istanbul