Nigeria's Yobe state reveals level of Boko Haram destruction

Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Boko Haram violence has cost Yobe state in northeast Nigeria nearly $150 million since 2009, the state government said on Tuesday.

"Yobe state has incurred losses worth over 30 billion naira ($149 million, 131 million euros) from the Boko Haram insurgency," Abdullahi Bego, spokesman for governor Ibrahim Gaidam, told AFP.

The estimation includes reconstruction costs, he added.

Neighbouring Borno state -- the epicentre of the Islamist violence that has left at least 20,000 dead -- in March estimated its losses at $5.9 billion.

More than 2.6 million people have been made homeless by the conflict, with 2.0 million internally displaced to camps and host communities within Nigeria.

Bego said there were currently nearly 310,000 registered internally displaced persons in the state, representing some 14 percent of the total number of IDPs.

"This number excludes those who moved in with relatives and friends inside and outside the state and are not captured on our database," he added.

Education has been badly hit: 128 students were killed in attacks at five public schools in Yobe, including in Buni Yadi, where Boko Haram killed boys as they slept at a boarding school in February 2014.

Some 1,098 health centres and classrooms were destroyed in Yobe, as were 5,162 vehicles and 109,267 livestock.

"In terms of human loss the destruction is quite enormous. We don't have exact figures but the number runs into thousands," said Bego, describing reconstruction as a "daunting challenge".

"Hundreds of towns and villages have been sacked and destroyed by Boko Haram insurgents, forcing residents to vacate their homes."

Regional and Western powers were last weekend urged to do more to support Nigeria and surrounding countries to rebuild after military gains against the Islamists.