BEVERLY HILLS, September 21, (THEWILL) – United States-based 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative and the Stefanus Foundation in Nigeria have identified Boko Haram as the most lethal terrorist group in the world, adding that over 14 million Nigerians are directly affected by humanitarian crises in Nigeria’s North-east caused by the terrorists.
Addressing journalists during a programme organised to highlight the challenges of terror victims in the country, the Executive Director of the Stefanus Foundation, Mark Lipdo, disclosed that a research conducted by the groups revealed the figure.
“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,” he said.
Lipdo disclosed that 14.8 million Nigerians are directly hit by the crisis in the north east, adding that 1500 schools in the region have been closed, 611 teachers dead and 19,000 others displaced, with 950,000 children forced to stay out of schools, 2000 abducted and 10, 000 boys forced to join Boko Haram.
According to him, “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.”
Also speaking at the meeting, the Vice President of the 21st Wilberforce Initiative, Elijah Brown said Nigeria has the third-highest number of internally displaced persons, IDPs, in Africa and the seventh in the world, pointing out that as at December 2015, the number of IDPs scattered around Nigeria alone were more than 2 million.
“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,” he revealed.
Brown, who also stated that the activities of Fulani herdsmen were having a terrible effect on the middle belt and called for immediate action against the menace, said: “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,” the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative Vice President stated.
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