SAN FRANCISCO, March 13, (THEWILL) – No fewer than 200,000 Nigerians, mostly from Borno State, have been turned into refugees in neighbouring Niger Republic as a result of the lingering Boko Haram insurgency in the North East.
Governor of Nigerien Diffa Province, Niger Republic, Yacuba Usmana Gawo, disclosed this, Friday, while playing host to visiting Borno State governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, saying the refugees were mostly people displaced from their homes in Northeast Nigeria by Boko Haram.
Stressing that the seizure of Baga by the insurgents shot the number of refugees from the initial 150,000 to over 200,000, Gawo said the Nigerien government was so magnanimous to provide shelter to the refugees whom he described as neighbours in need of help.
Shettima was in Diffa to visit the over 200,000 displaced persons who fled Abadam, Mobbar, Kukawa and Monguno local government areas in northern part of Borno State as a result of the insurgency.
The insurgents had taken over Malamfatori, Damasak, Baga and Monguno, headquarters of Abadam, Mobbar, Kukawa and Monguno respectively thus leaving the over 500,000 people of the areas scattered in different directions in search of refuge.
However, four of the affected council headquarters have been liberated by the joint multinational forces in separate rescue missions though they are yet to be opened to residents to return back home.
Shettima was on a two-day visit to the country during which he visited the three camps established in Sayam Kabalewa and Gudumariya, all in Diffa province, assuring the fleeing refugees that the government was always thinking about them.
Shettima, who was received by the refugees amid wild jubilation, expressed gratitude to the government and people of Niger Republic, especially the Governor of Diffa for offering assistance to the displaced Nigerians. He also gave officials at the camps some cash donations for the upkeep of the refugees.
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