The United Nations says it is working towards ending the activities of Boko Haram insurgency in the North East by August 2018.
Edward Kallon, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, disclosed this in Abuja saying “the fire in the North east should be out in the next 18 months”.
Kallon while describing the crisis as the North East as the fourth largest in the world noted, that challenges confronting Nigeria were enormous ranging from security to governance and economy.
He said the crisis pose a threat to the nation’s economic and long term development, but were solve-able and that UN would support the Federal and State governments on it.
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He said that the humanitarian assistance in the North East should be wound down within the next one and a half years.
“I want to say that we have very short window of opportunity and my calculation is 18 months; we have to put out the fire in the North east Nigeria in 18 months.
“If we don’t succeed in putting out the fire in 18 months, the situation will become protracted and chronic, and some of the displaced cases can take over 10 years.
“Some of the refugee situations in the world can take over 17 years. My push in Nigeria is to make sure that we find a solution to this problem in 18 months and start that difficult task of helping people rebuild their lives” he said.
He said that the UN looked at the crisis as an opportunity to address a long-term problem in the affected region.
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