Following the rate at which security agencies and personnels have been tackling insurgency with every opportunity, the Minister of Defence, Lt Gen Mansur Dan Ali (rtd) has said that the Nigerian Army has dealt a tremendous blow to the Boko Haram insurgents.

According to Ceoafrica, the defence minister made the remark yesterday as a special guest at a one day seminar titled “The Impact of Insurgency and Boko Haram attacks”, organised by Mission Alert International.

Dan-Ali who was represented at the occasion by Dr Hassan Abdullahi, assured Nigerians that a good number of communities in the liberated areas are safe for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to go back home.

The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, represented by ACP Tolani Alausa, said that the Nigerian Police is doing everything to ensure the safety of the IDPs.

He restated the need for the cooperation of other security agencies and civilians alike and also disclosed that  the role of the Police Force becomes expedient, now that displaced persons are been relocated back to their communities.

To ensure the safety of the returnees, Alausa said, the Police have deployed 6,000 of its personnel to the North-East, adding that the activities of National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, are complementing the efforts of the Nigerian Police.

However, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund’s (UNICEF) representative and a Child Protection Specialist with UNICEF Nigeria, Samuel Manyok, said that about 365 children were killed in the North-East conflict, while 1,700, 000 people were forced out of their homes thereby becoming IDPs.

Manyok also said that with UNICEF’s support, about 1,700, 000 people children of school age will access schooling and learning materials in safe learning environment and about 3,900,000 people will receive primary health care services in 2017.