Nigeria planning return of Boko Haram displaced By AFP

Nigeria expects many of the 2.1 million people

internally displaced by Boko Haram’s insurgency

to return home in the coming year, amid claims

the Islamists are in disarray and a spent force.

President Muhammadu Buhari said the return

would begin “in earnest” in 2016 and his

government “will do all within its powers to

facilitate the quick return and resettlement” of

IDPs.

Military commanders and the government believe

they are on track to meet a year-end deadline to

curb the group’s fighting capacity, despite

continued suicide and bomb attacks targeting

civilians.

Abuja is, however, appealing for help, with

homes and businesses destroyed by six years of

fighting and infrastructure, from clean water and

electricity to health clinics and schools, severely

hit.

Information minister Lai Mohammed said after a

recent visit to Bama, in northeastern Borno state,

he was “astounded at the level of destruction and

devastation”.

“Not a single building was unaffected by the

activities of the terrorists and no building is

being occupied by its original resident,” he said

on Tuesday.

AFP visited Bama with the Nigerian military in

March after it was recaptured by troops.

Corrugated iron roofs lay ripped off among

charred debris and houses were blackened with

soot or in ruins.

Decomposing bodies could be seen around the

town, 71.5 kilometres (44 miles) southeast of the

state capital, Maiduguri.

Mohammed said a “clean-up” of Bama, as well as

nearby Konduga and Kaure, was already under

way, with plans for the start of rebuilding an

initial 1,000 homes due to begin in January.

– ‘Huge challenge’ –

Babagana Umara, commissioner of the newly

established Ministry of Reconstruction,

Rehabilitation and Resettlement in Borno, said

the violence had left 17 local government areas

completely deserted.

As well as Bama and Konduga, reconstruction has

also begun in Benisheik, west of Maiduguri, and

nearby villages, as well as in Mafa and Gwoza,

where Boko Haram proclaimed a caliphate last

year.

“This is the first phase of the reconstruction

project. Everyone knows the destruction wrought

by Boko Haram is enormous,” he told AFP,

describing the rebuilding project as a “huge

challenge”.

“The reconstruction of Bama alone will require

around 40 billion naira ($200 million, 182 million

euros) which is well beyond the capacity of the

state government,” he added.

Nigeria, whose crude-reliant economy has been

hit by the global oil shock, last week announced a

15-percent increase in capital expenditure in its

proposed 6.0 trillion naira budget for 2016.

But with infrastructure projects desperately

needed across the country, it is not yet clear how

much will go to the Boko Haram-affected

northeast.

Reconstruction also does not end in bricks and

mortar. The UN said last month some 1,100

schools were destroyed this year alone in the

Lake Chad region, where Nigeria meets Niger,

Chad and Cameroon.

Nigeria’s National Union of Teachers estimates

more than 600 teachers have been killed since

2009 and another 19,000 have fled, in a region

already short of qualified staff.

Fears have already been voiced about the effect

of lengthy school closures in the region, with

illiteracy and poverty seen as key drivers of

radicalisation.

Doctors have also fled and healthcare services

collapsed, exacerbating historically poor

indicators in areas such as maternal and infant

mortality.

Many people who returned to the north of

Adamawa state, which borders Borno, told AFP in

May no food supplies were getting through, with

roads and bridges bombed in the area.

Farmers have missed this year’s planting season

and there was also the added danger of

landmines planted in fields.

– Security threat –

Umara said displaced residents from Konduga

and Mafa could return home as early as next

month but people from further afield will “be

returned gradually” once reconstruction was

complete.

Supporting the IDPs in camps in Maiduguri is a

huge financial burden for the state government,

he added, calling for help from the international

community.

Security, however, remains an issue, with

sporadic Boko Haram raids still occurring and

indications the Islamic State group affiliate is

biding its time on islands on Lake Chad.

The Nigerian military’s capacity to prevent

attacks in remote rural areas remains unclear.

On Thursday, 14 people who returned to the

Borno village of Kumiya to farm after fleeing a

previous attack in July were killed in a raid that

saw some decapitated.

Last month, eight were killed when a suicide

bomber blew herself up among a crowd of IDPs

arriving in Maiduguri from Dikwa because of a

lack of food.