10,000 displaced civilians receive medical aid from military in liberated Nigerian town

By Olarewaju Kola

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AA) - Some 10,000 civilians displaced by terror attacks in northeastern Nigeria received medical care on Friday from regional military forces.

"About 10,000 people who were displaced by Boko Haram are receiving the medical support today," Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), Brig. Gen. Godwin Mutkut told Anadolu Agency in Monguno in the northeast where civilians gathered for help.

Monguno, located around Lake Chad shores, has been overrun by Boko Haram in 2015 and 2016 before the military liberated the town.

Scores of civilians, mostly women and children, who gathered at an open field, were treated for malaria, gastrointestinal diseases, and dental challenges common in the area, said the military commander.

"The civilian population in Monguno is about 800,000 and the shelters are very concentrated in the same area. So you expect high cases of diseases and infection here," he said.

The MNJTF is a military collaboration between Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroon, and Benin against terrorism in the Lake Chad area.

The MNJTF chief of civil-military activities, Col. Antoine Hounkpe, while launching the medical care in the town said the UK, US, France, and some African nations in the Lake Chad Basin supported the program with $60,000.

The 12 years of Boko Haram terror attacks have displaced more than 3 million people in the region, according to a recent report by the UN Development Program office in Nigeria.