Boko Haram: Maiduguri alone has 51,000 widows and 49,000 orphans in 17 IDP camps-Governor Shettima

Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima stated this on Wednesday when he received a high powered delegation of the European Union to Nigeria and ECOWAS in his office.

The delegation which includes Michel Arrion, Ambassador, head of EU's delegation to Nigeria & ECOWAS, Brian O'Neill, Minister-Counsellor, head of Cooperation, EU delegation to Nigeria & ECOWAS and Fatima Kyari Mohammed, EU's Adviser held several vital discussions at length ranging from health, education, reconstruction, resettlement, agriculture, IDP camps, feeding and host of others.

The Governor said most of the victims of Boko haram insurgency are women and children.

"Sixty to seventy percent of children in the IDP camps are orphans. In Maiduguri alone, we have 51,000 widows and about 49,000 orphans in the 17 IDP camps and only God know the population of widows and orphans in Borno state as a result of this insurgency because just last week we received about 25,000 IDPs in Ngala who were rescued from some newly liberated areas " Shettima explained. 

"Ours is a basket case but our focus is that, in next twelve months, we want to be heralded as a success story; of very genuine turnaround. Our focus are in education; without education lets forget about everything, job creation, particularly in agricultural sector; to invest in the whole value chain of agricultural production process and lastly, investment in gender empowerment and girl-child education" Shettima stressed. 

"We bought some cows that can produce 18 litres of milk per day; our local breeds here produces one litre of milk per day. So, we bought some samples and we are buying more. We want to buy at least 500 of those cows. For communities that are returning, we would encourage them to form cooperatives, we will give those women some of these cows so that the milk in the cows would be use in our school feeding program" Shettima further explained.

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