Nigeria extremists still ‘very dangerous,’ says UN official

By CHINEDU ASADU
Associated Press

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A top U.N. official says that the Islamic extremist insurgency in northeast Nigeria is a “very, very dangerous (and) very threatening” crisis that needs more than $1 billion in aid in 2022 to assist those hit by the decade-long conflict. United Nations humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told The Associated Press that the world should not forget about the continuing devastation caused by Boko Haram and its offshoot, the Islamic State West Africa Province. Together the two groups are blamed for killing tens of thousands of residents and displacing millions. Boko Haram, Nigeria’s homegrown Islamic extremist rebels, launched an insurgency in the country’s northeast in 2009, to fight against western education and to establish Islamic Shariah law in Nigeria.