Latest figures released by the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, on Monday indicate that 15, 204 persons have been displaced in Damboa town, south of Borno State, following last weekend’s attack.

Thousands of people were seen on Monday morning fleeing towards Uba town from Damboa and other areas bordering it which were attacked by the insurgents over the weekend even as military operatives tried to persuade them to stay.

A resident the town, who was among those that fled to Maiduguri, said there are only few people left in the town, comprising mainly the elderly and those that have decided to plead allegiance to the insurgents.

Speaking to journalists in Maiduguri, the Northeast information officer of the agency, AbdulKadir Ibrahim, said the internally displaced persons are presently seeking refuge in Biu andl Maiduguri, both in Borno state and Goniri in Gujba local government area of Yobe state.

According to Ibrahim, the number of displaced persons in Biu as at Monday stood at 10,204, 3000 in Maiduguri and 2,000 in Goniri.

He said the displaced people were not only from Damboa town but from surrounding locations of Kimba, Madaragrau, Mandafuma, Chikwar Kir, Bomburatai and Sabon Kwatta.

Ibrahim, however, said that the agency had put plans in place to accommodate and cater for the newly displaced persons, adding that initial assessment indicates that the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, would require basic household items including plates, spoons, towels, cups, clothing, beddings, food items, blankets, mosquito nets and sanitary pads.

The NEMA spokesman said with the new IDPs, the agency will now have to attend to 165, 107 persons who have been rendered homeless due to the Boko Haram insurgency in the region.