Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima on Thursday appealed for the reopening of major highways from the state leading to neighbouring Republic of Niger to facilitate the return of over 85,000 Nigerian refugees.

Shettima made the appeal while hosting the Governor of Diffa Province in Niger Republic, Mohammoudu Lawaly Dan Dano at the Government House in Maiduguri.

He said the reopening of highways linking Borno state with Niger will reactivate and facilitate farming, trade, and evacuation of those presently displaced by insurgents now living in Diffa.

He said there are presently over 85,000 persons from Borno state taking refuge at Diffa resettlement camps, established by the Nigerien government in 2014.

“We have a lot of commonalities of history, culture, folks, religion and ethnicity with the people of Niger. It was the Colonial Masters of Britain and France that divided us with these artificial boundaries and divisions,” Shettima said.

He said the IDPs taking refuge in Diffa Province of Niger, are adequately catered for by the Nigerien government, without being discriminated or abandoned, as Niger and northern part of Nigeria share the same historical and cultural backgrounds.

He promised to discuss the matter with the Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Lucky Irabor, a Major- General, next week.

“The reopening of this road will also facilitate the repatriation of displaced persons taking refuge in your province of Diffa.”

Shettima assured the visiting governor that the re-opening of the road, could activate and facilitate trade, farming and tourism, which had been affected by Boko Haram insurgency for over five years.

Responding, Dan Dano assured the governor that all the displaced persons in camps are being taken care of, including the provision of health care delivery services.

He said that all the female IDPs that gave birth to babies in camps, had been issued with birth and registration certificates.