Boko Haram controls 1/3 of Nigeria's Borno

Governor Shettima said at least 8 of the 27 local government areas have been captured by Boko Haram   At least eight of the 27 local government areas in Nigeria's northeastern Borno State have been captured by Boko Haram militants, State Governor Kashim Shettima has said.


"The insurgents have taken over nearly eight local government areas in the state," Shettima told a visiting relief committee dispatched by the central government.

"They have taken over Gamboru-Ngala, Kala-Balge, Marte, Dikwa, Gwoza, Bama, Askira-Uba and parts of the Konduga local government areas," said the governor.

He added that the insurgents had also carried out recent attacks in Abadam and Kukawa.

Borno Deputy Governor Anna Mustapha had warned one day earlier that the entire northeastern region may soon fall into Boko Haram's hands.

"If the federal government will not make extra efforts, in the next three months, the three north-east states will not be in existence," he warned.

The government announced last month that it had reached a cease-fire with Boko Haram that called for the safe return of over 200 schoolgirls abducted by the group in northeastern Borno in April.

But militants have since mounted several daring attacks in the country's north, resulting in multiple deaths and the capture of several towns.

A man purported to be Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau appeared in a new video on Friday, in which he denied the existence of any deal with the government and said the abducted girls were not coming back because they had been married off.

Assistance

Retired Air Marshal Jonah Wuyep, who heads a government subcommittee on data collection, said efforts were being made to address longstanding humanitarian challenges.

"Borno alone cannot handle the problems of internally displaced persons (IDPs) because lots of things need to be done," he said.

Wuyep said the federal government would step in to provide support for the country's IDPs.

"The sub-committee was set up to gather data on the number of IDPs and infrastructure that was destroyed for the government to intervene," he explained.

"The president is worried about the plight of the IDPs – that's why the victim support fund was inaugurated," added Wuyep

The sub-committee is affiliated with the Terrorism Victims Support Fund, which was recently launched by the Nigerian government to ameliorate the suffering of terror victims in the country's northern region and elsewhere.

The government has battled the Boko Haram insurgency over the past five years, during which tens of thousands of Nigerians have been killed and millions displaced.