Scary details of Boko Haram attack on churches and schools revealed

The 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative from the United States and its Nigerian counterpart, the Stefanus Foundation, have revealed that attacks by Boko Haram in the north- eastern part of Nigeria affected 13,000 churches, 1,500 schools and led to the death of 611 teachers. On a larger scale, the two organisations which spoke in Abuja, according to a report by Premium Times, said more than 14 million Nigerians were directly affected by the security crisis in the area. A school in Chibok reportedly destroyed by Boko Haram The report quoted Mark Lipdo, the executive director of the Stefanus Foundation, as saying: “14.8 million Nigerians from north-east 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, 611 teachers died as a result of terrorism in the north east; 19,000 teachers were displaced, 1500 schools were closed down, 950,000 children were denied the opportunity of accessing education, 13,000 churches were abandoned, closed down or destroyed, 2000 children were abducted and 10,000 boys were forced to join Boko Haram. He added that the 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 fourth. In his own remarks, the vice president of the 21st Wilberforce Initiative, Elijah Brown, added: “As of December 2015, there were 2,152,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Nigeria – the third highest figure in Africa and the seventh in the world.” Concerning the Fulani herdsmen, he said: “Without intervention, the crisis in the Middle Belt will continue to escalate. Some of the abducted Chibok girls in a recent Boko Haram video. “This could affect other countries in West African region like the Republic of Benin, Chad, Cameroon, Mali, and Niger.” Also speaking, Samson Ayokunle, the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, said: “The situation is looked upon by international bodies as the biggest humanitarian disaster all over the world. “A disturbing fact about the problem is that it has not received substantial humanitarian response from the world’s most powerful nations as other disasters of relatively smaller degrees in other parts of the world. “I am therefore calling on the world’s powerful nations to come to the aid of Nigeria in seeing to the end of insurgency. “Come to the aid of many victims of insurgency within and outside internally displaced people’s camps or homes; those who have been stripped naked, the jobless, the orphaned, those maimed and the widowed in Nigeria.” Meanwhile, the plight of IDPs has been a cause for concern as the network of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Borno state, has said there are claims that most female IDPs in the state have turned to prostitution to survive.