Thousands of Nigerians who fled the terrorist activities of the Boko Haram group to neighboring states have returned to their homes, officials in the country have said.
According to officials, over 5,700 people from northeastern Nigeria who took shelter in Cameroon and Niger six years ago following attacks by the terrorist group have returned to their homes. They have been placed in houses built with government assistance.
The move comes as the Nigerian military has managed to restore security in the Marte area of Borno state in the northeastern part of the country. Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe, also known as the BAY states in northeastern Nigeria, were the poorest states in the country even prior to the insurgency.
Boko Haram is a jihadist terrorist organization based in northeastern Nigeria. The group, founded in 2002, is also active in neighboring states such as Chad, Niger, and northern Cameroon. In 2009, Boko Haram launched an armed insurrection against the Nigerian government to introduce sharia law throughout the country.
According to UN estimates, the Boko Haram insurgency has displaced nearly three million people in the Lake Chad Basin, of which internally displaced people (IDP) in Nigeria account for more than 2.1 million. In camps and host communities, IDPs often live in poor conditions and lack access to adequate food and services. As of 2020, over 280,000 Nigerians were registered as refugees in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger, with a majority of them having fled violence in the northeastern part of the country.
As a result of the group's activities, tens of thousands of people have been killed, with many more injured, abducted, or conscripted to join the fight. According to a recent report by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the conflict with the terrorists has directly resulted in the deaths of 35,000 people in the BAY states since 2009. But the full human cost of the terror is even greater, the report underlined, as many more have died from the indirect effects of the conflict.
*Boko Haram is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries.