Located in the far northeastern region of the country, Borno State plays host to more than 6 million people with various ethnic groups who majorly harvest the potential of agriculture and livestock farming in the state.
Despite its proximity to border countries like Chad and Niger, the state has been plagued with crises ranging from lingering insecurity issues such as bandits attacks, kidnapping terrorism and most recently flooding.
Brono’s placement makes it an inter-trade route linking most Northern states in Nigeria to the Shael countries but the lingering crises have dampened the access to trading in the state, some research papers documented.
This report extracted relevant socioeconomic data from the state of Borno to identify challenges affecting the state.
Insecurity
Spanning almost a decade, Borno State has been the hotspot for insecurity crises in Nigeria. The state is plagued with violent attacks caused by terrorists and bandits who have taken over several local government communities, killing and displacing residents from their homes. For instance, the Sambisa forest and its environ communities, have become inaccessible for many years to residents as terrorists and bandits use the location as a hideout.
Data pulled from the Beacon consulting tracker showed that between 2023 and September 2024, over 3,000 people had been killed in the state as insecurity spread across the local government areas in the state.
In about 1,643 incidences of insecurity attacks recorded, at least 669 individuals have sustained injuries from these crises, the data showed.
Kidnapping
Like insecurity attacks, multiple attempts of abduction have also been carried out by these terrorists. Infact, as far back as 2014, the state experienced one of the major kidnapping cases reported in Nigeria. A total of 276 Chibok school girls were kidnapped in the state, drawing global attention from international bodies and countries to Nigeria. To date, not all of these school girls have been rescued.
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Between June 2023 and July 2023, no fewer than 720 people were kidnapped in Borno State with N116.1 million demanded as ransom. Only about N34 million was paid, according to data compiled by SBM intelligence.
Flooding
Very recently, the state capital, Maiduguri, was hit with flooding that submerged several communities. This flooding was exacerbated due to infrastructural damage to the Alua Dam. The floodwater has affected 400,000 households since the collapse occurred on September 10.
According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), there has been a soaring record of deaths, estimated at 30, while public infrastructures and facilities including the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, local zoo, roads and the state’s Correctional Centre were affected.
Over N13 billion in donations have been given to the state government despite receiving N816.34 million from the Ecological Fund between January and June 2024 from the federal government’s FAAC allocation.
Out of school, Poverty ratio
Due to the consistent violent attacks reported in the state, many school children have been forced out of school. According to UNICEF, there are about two million children not going to school within the state. For most of these children, their education has been suspended due to attacks on their schools and houses forcing them to be displaced or take shelter at IDP camps. The Borno State Government says it has made significant progress in addressing the problem of out-of-school children by reducing the number in the state from over two million to 800,000.
Borno state’s latest MPI report shows 72.5% of its 6.95 million population lives in multidimensional poverty, amidst unavailable 2019 poverty rate data due to security challenges. Borno is the 16th state in Nigeria with the highest share of its population who are multidimensionally poor.
Meanwhile, according to the data from NBS, Borno State has an under-5 mortality rate of 86 deaths per 1,000 live births.
By: James Odunayo
The post RipplesMetrics… Insecurity, kidnapping, flooding, others: The many afflictions of Borno and relevant stats appeared first on Latest Nigeria News | Top Stories from Naomisophyblog.
