Boko Haram might capitalize on disgruntled internally displaced persons who feel they have been neglected by authorities and persuade them to join the militant group, the governor of Borno state Umaru Zulum warned.
“This is frightening. If the IDPs living in camps could not get what they are looking for, especially the opportunity to go back to their respective towns and return to the farm, they may be forced to join Boko Haram,” Zulum told reporters in the state capital Maiduguri.
The threat of insecurity in the state remains alive, Zulum cautioned, despite an improvement in its security situation.
Zulum said that it was crucial to foster a good relationship between civilians and the military as one of the key ways to strengthen the war on terrorism.
Zulum also expressed hope that the military will increase its efforts to ensure that the displaced people to return to their towns.
The Nigerian government has attempted to implement a number of strategies to tackle the Islamist insurgency. In September last year, the Nigerian Army said that people who will be travelling through the north-eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe must carry identification cards in an effort to weed out suspected militants.
In January, President Muhammadu Buhari announced a strategic withdrawal of the country’s military from areas in which peace had been restored as the battle to eliminate terrorist elements rages on.
Nigeria has been battling an insurgency by Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa in the north for over a decade. The conflict has killed at least 36,000 people and left millions of others displaced in the northeast and the general Lake Chad Basin.
