Nigeria makes "remarkable progress" in defeating terrorists


Nigeria has made "remarkable progress" in defeating terrorists belonging to the Boko Haram group.

That's according to the President of the West African country, Muhammadu Buhari, speaking to world leaders at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

Boko Haram extremists have terrorized large areas of north-east Nigeria causing the huge displacement of people and leaving destruction and hunger in their wake.

The UN estimates that 4.5 million people are in urgent need of food assistance with fears that if the insurgency continues a million more people will join the ranks of the hungry.

Despite the ongoing challenges the country faces, President Muhammadu Buhari's message to world leaders gathered at the UN on Tuesday was upbeat.

"Nigeria has made remarkable progress in our resolve to defeat Boko Haram, whose capacity to launch orchestrated attacks as a formed group has been severely degraded. In the last few months, their operations have been limited to the sporadic use of improvised explosive devices against soft targets."

The Nigerian armed forces have retaken many parts of the north-eastern region of the country from Boko Haram.

UN aid agencies are now boosting their support to those people affected by the insurgency.

SOURCE: Daniel Dickinson, United Nations.