Two million IDPs return home in Borno- UN

By Bimbo Ogunnaike

The United Nations(UN) has disclosed that no fewer than two million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno State have been recently returned home.

The body said the development was due to the progress recorded in the counterinsurgency operations of the military in that state.

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock, made this diclosure during a visit to Maiduguri, the state capital.

Lowcock said the IDPs were resettled in their ancestral homes, adding that this was a sequel to the combined efforts of the Nigerian government, the military, and humanitarian organisations to end the long suffering of the people due to terrorism by Boko Haram,  militants.

The UN official,who is also the emergency relief coordinator and head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs since 2017, urged an enhancement of the stabilisation and recovery process.

While expressing serious concerns over the sufferings of the people affected, Lowcock also suggested ways of addressing the problems, including a further combined response involving the military and humanitarian agencies in the northeast of Nigeria.

“We all want to see stabilization and recovery. I do agree that we need to build more trust,” he said, noting there are about 1.8 million people who are still in need of humanitarian support in that region.