Insurgency has claimed 37,000 lives, displaced 2.2m people in North East, 

05 Jun Insurgency has claimed 37,000 lives, displaced 2.2m people in North East, 

The Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast, which is in its 12th year, has claimed 37,000 lives and displaced 2.2 million people.

United Nations (UN) Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Edward Kallon, disclosed this at the opening of the maiden UN humanitarian retreat organised to bring lasting peace to the Northeast at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja.

He said: “At the peak of the crisis, over 2.2 million people were displaced in the BAY States and another 303,963 Nigerian refugees in neighbouring countries in Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

“The situation is also very dynamic and 1.9 million people remain internally displaced in the worst affected states and an estimated 1.6 million people that have returned to relatively safe areas.

“We are currently facing unprecedented challenges with increasing levels of violence, not just in the Northeast but also elsewhere in Nigeria.

“We are also facing, as a result of this, a shrinking humanitarian space, a real threat to humanitarian staff, facilities and operations.

“We are still reeling from the impact of COVID-19, including the socio-economic impact of the pandemic in Nigeria.

“The COVID-19 pandemic will also likely have a profound impact on our funding environment, with available funding either stagnant or reducing in the year and, likely, beyond 2021.”

Kallon said noted that humanitarian needs were increasing due to continuing violence displacing people, as well as a looming food crisis putting up to 4.4 million people at risk.

“Unless we manage to stave off and prevent this crisis, it could deteriorate to catastrophic levels,” he warned.