LAGOS, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- At least 1,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have returned home in Baga, a town in Nigeria's northeast Borno state, after months of displacement by Boko Haram insurgents, an official has said.
Babagana Umara Zulum, the governor of Borno state, who returned to Maiduguri, the state capital, after spending two nights in the town, urged the returnees to be law-abiding and cooperate with security agencies in maintaining law and order, according to a statement made available to Xinhua on Monday.
Baga, a fishing community in the shores of Lake Chad with waterways to neighboring countries, has suffered several Boko Haram attacks since 2009.
The governor was in Baga between Friday to Sunday supervising preparations for the resettlement of IDPs to the town.
Each of the returnees was given 10,000 naira (27 U.S. dollars) in cash as emergency relief. Every adult member of a household received one bag of rice, one bag of maize grain, one bag of beans, and 3 liters of cooking oil.
A government officials' convoy ran into a Boko Haram ambush on Friday as they were heading to Baga town to receive the returned IDPs.
Military spokesperson John Enenche said in a statement on Sunday that 18 people, including four soldiers and 10 policemen, were killed in the ambush. Enditem
