Nigeria: 13,000 churches destroyed, 1,5000 schools shut

(AGI) - Lagos 22 sep - Over 14 million Nigerians are directly affected by humanitarian crises in Nigeria's north-east region, two international humanitarian groups have reported. The 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative from the United States and the Stefanus Foundation, based in Nigeria, gave the figures recently in Abuja. Executive Director of the Stefanus Foundation, Mark Lipdo, said a research conducted by the groups revealed the figure, as "14.8 million Nigerians from Northeast 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." He lamented that the menace of terrorism has had a wide range of casualties, which he listed to include 611 teachers who died as a result of terrorism in the north east; 19,000 teachers displaced; 1,500 schools closed down and 950,000 children denied the opportunity of accessing education. Others include 13,000 churches abandoned, closed down or destroyed; 2,000 children abducted and 10,000 boys forced to join Boko Haram. "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," Lipdo said. (AGI) .