UN Secretary-General in Maiduguri, visits rehabilitation centre, IDP camp

The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on a visit to Nigeria on Tuesday in Maiduguri, visited a rehabilitation centre for victims of Boko-Haram and an Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp.

During the visits Gutteres, who showed concern over the plight of the affected persons, expressed UN commitment to continue to support measures to ameliorate their sufferings.

Gov. Babagana Zulum of Borno who briefed the secretary on the situation in Borno, lauded UN for its support to the state and urged for more.

Zulum noted that many of the IDPs had stayed for several years in camps and were earger to return to thier recovered homes but the destroyed structures were yet to be reconstructed.

He urged for more UN support in the ongoing rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement of the IDPs.

At the rehabilitation home, the Borno Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zuwaira Gambo, said from 2016 to date, the centre had rehabilitated 7039 women and children affected by the insurgency.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the UN secretary, who was scheduled to address the press in Maiduguri, could not visit the border town of Banki as earlier scheduled because of time factor.