A new report has shown the unbelievably high financial cost of Boko Haram damage since the insurgents began their assault on the Nigerian people.
Boko Haram members
The United Nations has estimated that about $9 billion as the financial cost of Boko Haram damage in the North-East since 2009, The Sun reports.
The terrorist group has been destroying homes, schools, bridges and roads, according to the United Nations, Bloomberg reports.
Borno State alone suffered losses worth $6.2 billion, as quoted by President of the UN Security Council, Matthew Rycroft.
The UN is stepping up support to the region as many who fled Boko Haram violence are now facing a humanitarian crisis even as attacks on their communities abate, he said.
According to Rycroft, “The number of displaced is shocking, the number of children suffering from malnutrition is alarming,” Rycroft said. “It is like suffering twice.”
Boko Haram has waged an eight-year campaign, capturing towns and razing villages in a bid to impose its version of Islamic law in Nigeria.
The United Kingdom will contribute more money to help tackle a crisis that’s struggled to attract donor funds, said Rycroft, who’s also the British permanent secretary to the UN. He didn’t specify how much.
On his part, Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, told reporters that Nigeria had spent $4 billion on the region, without giving further details.
Norway, last month, pledged $189.7 million over three years to Nigeria and the broader Lake Chad basin that’s been affected by the violence.