Nigeria Aid Agency Says 850,000 Displaced Across Northeast

No less than 850,000 people are displaced across Nigeria's northeastern region which bears the brunt of a growing Boko Haram insurgency, state-run National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said, adding that many more displaced people are probably not accounted for.



"It is difficult to know the number of displaced persons in the country because some are in the camps while some are living in host communities," Abdulsalam Mohammed, NEMA coordinator in northeast, told reporters in Lagos at a retreat on emergency and disaster preparedness organized by the national parliament.



"So, giving the accurate figure will be hard but those in the camps across the country are over 850,000 in 31 camps and 20 out of these camps are from the northeast. These statistics were gathered two days ago."



Mohammed asserted efforts are underway to continue to collate accurate figure of the  internally displaced persons (IDPs).



The figure given by NEMA falls far short of numbers earlier supplied by other government officials. Governor of northeastern Borno State Kashim Shettima said last week that over a million are displaced in his state alone - much less the total figure for the three states where Boko Haram insurgency has bitten hardest.



"We are mopping up displaced persons from several states because they (displaced persons) fled to other neighboring states from the northeast," Mohammed added.



"They are in Kano, Kaduna, Abuja, Plateau and Nasarawa [states]. So, we are putting them in all those established camps to ascertain their number and give them the appropriate care that they require as citizens."



Over three million people are estimated to have been displaced and 13,000 killed since the crisis began in 2009.



Boko Haram has embraced violent methods since the 2009 killing of its leader, Mohammed Yusuf, while in police custody.



More than 13,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the insurgency began in 2009.



Boko Haram has been outlawed in Nigeria, Turkey and the Units States.



By Rafiu Ajakaye



www.aa.com.tr/en - Lagos