Report says B’Haram destroyed 13,000 churches, shut 1, 500 schools, killed 611 teachers

Reports by two international humanitarian groups, say that Boko Haram activities directly affected over 14 million Nigerians in the North-East region of the country.

The groups, 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative from the United States and the Stefanus Foundation, based in Nigeria, disclosed these figures in Abuja recently.

Mark Lipdo, Executive Director of the Stefanus Foundation, speaking to journalists during a programme put together to highlight the challenges of terror victims in the country, disclosed that a research the foundation conducted shows that “14.8 million Nigerians from Northeast are directly impacted by the crisis. Officially, there are 2.2 million Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs.

“Unofficially, there are five to seven million IDPs. Those in need of special assistance are 2.5 million, comprising children under the age of five, pregnant women and nursing mothers.”

According to him, the menace of terrorism really had a wide range of casualties. He then gave a list that shows that 611 teachers died as a result of terrorism in the north-East; 19,000 teachers displaced, 1,500 schools shut, and 950,000 children deprived of the opportunity of accessing education.

The list also revealed that 13,000 churches were abandoned, closed down or destroyed, 2000 children abducted and 10,000 boys against their will joined Boko Haram.

Lipdo added, “Global Terrorism index shows that Boko Haram is the world’s most lethal terrorist group, followed by ISIS, while Al-Qaeda ranks third and the Fulani militants mostly in the middle belt rank 4th.”

Read also: Govt ruined me, my life in danger for being a journalist, Salkida laments

In his own address, Vice President of the 21st Wilberforce Initiative, Elijah Brown, revealed that as at December 2015, there were over two million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) scattered around Nigeria alone.

According to him, “As of December 2015, there were 2,152,000 IDPs in Nigeria – the third highest figure in Africa and the seventh in the world.”
Brown revealed that the activities of Fulani herdsmen were having a serous effect on the middle belt and calls for urgent action by the government.

“Without intervention, the crisis in the Middle Belt will continue to escalate. This could affect other countries in West African region like the Republic of Benin, Chad, Cameroon, Mali, and Niger,” he said.

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now