By Rafiu Ajakaye
LAGOS
Local authorities in Nigeria's Borno State need at least $20 million to resettle over one million people displaced as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency in the country's northeast.
"Twenty-two of [Borno's] 27 local government areas were destroyed," Borno Deputy Governor Zannah Mustapha told a delegation of the Red Cross Society in provincial capital Maiduguri on Tuesday.
He said over one million internally displaced persons (IDPs) were currently living in Maiduguri alone.
The official asserted that Boko Haram militants had wrought havoc on the state and its socio-economic infrastructure.
"Borno State needs over $20 million to resettle its people that were displaced, as most homes, business centers and places of worship were destroyed by the insurgents," he said.
"Though the military has liberated 97 percent of the communities taken over by insurgents in Borno, it will take time for the government to fumigate and defuse the landmines before they are relocated to their various communities," the deputy governor added.
He went on to say that the influx of IDPs into the state remained ongoing.
"Just yesterday, we received another batch of 4,500 IDPs from Geidam – who were sent away by the government of the Niger Republic – and more are still on their way to Maiduguri," said Mustapha.
Over 6,000 Nigerian nationals taking refuge in neighboring Niger were recently repatriated, but thousands still remain stranded in neighboring Cameroon and Chad.
Borno State, the birthplace of Boko Haram, has been hard-hit by the violent insurgency that has racked northeastern Nigeria for the last six years.
Tens of thousands of people have been lost to the crisis, with millions displaced across the region.
