The Nigeria Red Cross Society (NRCS) on Wednesday, said it reunited no fewer than 610 families displaced due to the insurgency North-East between January and March 2017.
Mr Nwakpa Okorie, Head of Communications of the society, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
According to Okorie, the families are reunited at various locations such as Madagali, Danboa, Gwoza, and Maiduguri, among others.
He said NRCS was an auxiliary organisation to public authorities in humanitarian intervention in the areas of health, disaster mitigation and social welfare.
Okorie further explained that restoring family links was, however, part of the core mandate of the organisation.
“Numerous families in the North-East of Nigeria, including children and arrested persons, have lost contact with their relatives because of the ongoing conflict.
“NRCS puts in so much effort to restore contact between them and their relatives and where possible, reunite them.
“The families waiting for the news of their loved ones are also supported to cope with their absence,’’ he said.
According to him, the society also provides free phone services to internally displaced persons in various camps and persons in host communities searching for their loved ones.
He said the phones were used to disseminate information to their loved ones as well as to communicate with them, thereby reducing anxiety and depression.
“In restoring family links, we send Red Cross messages which indicate an alert in various locations.
“We also provide tracing forms distributed among children, fathers and women searching for their relatives with detailed information such as addresses and pictures, which would aid in tracing and reunification.
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) struck a Boko Haram Terrorist (BHT) location at Tagoshe/Mandara Mountain general area about 10km Southwest of Gwoza .
Intelligence report by Sister surface forces had it that remnants of fleeing BHTs were gathered at the location.
The report was confirmed by NAF Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft before combat platforms were called in to strike the location.
The Director Of Public Relations and Information (DOPRI), Group Captain Ayodele Famuyiwa, said follow-up battle damage assessment confirmed that the air attack was successful as shown by the declassified footage of the operation.
A Nigerian Air Force (NAF) helicopter conveying personnel on medical outreach programme at Gwoza Thursday came under attack by members of the Boko Haram Terrorist (BHT) group.
The Mi-17 helicopter was shot at several times by the insurgents however there was no casualty except for an airman that sustained bullet wound.
The helicopter had departed Maiduguri enroute Gwoza venue of a 2-day medical outreach programme when it came under attack by the insurgents. Nevertheless, the pilot was able to fly the helicopter safely to and from its destination to enable the outreach programme continue uninterrupted.
According to the Director of Public Relations and Information (DOPRI), Group Captain Ayodele Famuyiwa following the attack, the NAF immediately scrambled a fighter aircraft and helicopter gunship to the location between Bama and Gwoza to neutralise the threat. “Intelligent report by ground troops confirmed scores of BHTs were killed, signifying that the air attack on the threat location was successful,” he said.
The NAF has been conducting medical outreach in the North East as part of its humanitarian support to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) with the latest being the Gwoza outreach.
Not every internally displaced person in Abuja is in the popular camps. Many live in remote places, and fend for themselves the best way they can.
Some of them, mostly from Borno State, rent apartments in Nasarawa State villages and try to provide for their families.
They complain of the difficulties in making ends meet, not having enough to eat and their children constantly falling ill due to the cold.
Twenty-eight-year-old mother of four, Christina Ibrahim told a typical story of the Gwoza, Borno State IDPs.
She said, “We mostly suffer from fever, malaria, typhoid, high blood pressure, when most of our people are taken to the hospital, they are always diagnosed with high blood pressure because we don’t really have anything to do, barely have enough food to feed the children, when you look at the children and see them hungry, it is not easy as a parent, we have to pay so much for rent in the village where we stay since we don’t have a camp and even pay for water, we pay N15 or as much as N25 for a gallon of water, it is difficult doing it especially coming from a village where we want for nothing.
“Our children are always falling sick because we don’t have mattresses, blankets or sweaters for them, we sleep on the floor with the children and the weather can be so cold mostly at night, we do not have mosquito nets.
“Because we are not in normal camps like the others, we are left to fend for ourselves, we don’t get much assistance unlike the others. Most times people come to us, ask us our problems, we tell them but they never come back, which is why most times, we ignore it when some others ask because we have never gotten any positive result from the ones that promised to help.”
Help has come. The Life Builders Initiative for Education and Societal Integration has taken a medical outreach to the unconventional camp, along with doctors, pharmacists and nurses who diagnosed and adminstered drugs to the IDPs. from Gworza.
Coordinator of Life Builders Mr Sanno David explained that they are interested in helping the poor and vulnerable in the society.
David who said that his organisation had conducted a research which found out seven areas that the poor in the society need help added that they have been to other major camps around Abuja and provided medical and economic empowerment skills.
His words, “We are helping the poor and vulnerable in our society and it so happens that the IDPs can presently be found in this category. We recently conducted a research and found out seven areas that the poor and vulnerable in our society need help.
”They include education, health, accommodation, societal integration, economic empowerment, food and basic sanitation and we have been trying to help them as best we can. We have been to the other camps around Abuja and Nasarawa State and every month we go to an IDP camp to provide them with these basic needs.”
Coordinator of the camp, Mr Sunday Waba added, “Recently we found out that a lot of our children suffer from worms and malaria, recently FEMA donated mosquito coils to us which we have been using as insect repellent to fight the mosquitoes.”
From tales of death, malnutrition and lack of access to education, the myriad of problems confronting children displaced by Boko-Haram seem enormous. HANNAH OJO who visited some IDPs settlements around Abuja reports.
An unmarked cemetery at Mandala Azoro houses the remains of thirteen children who went down like ninepins after a measles outbreak in Wasa, a Village in the FCT Abuja. They were aged five and below. The earth above their bodies still bore a fatal remembrance of the injurious loss; two months after they became victims to the twin inconvenience of poverty and disease.
The children in Wasa IDP location had survived the terrors of Boko-Haram in their home town of Gwoza only to come to a sticky end months later when the infectious but preventable diseases broke through their settlement at an uncompleted estate in the village.
When the news of their death broke in November 2015, the executive secretary of the FCT Primary Health Care Board, Dr Rilwan Mohammed, had given the number of the casualties as 10. The media quoted the same, but the secretary of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Wasa, Usman Ibrahim, confirmed 13 deaths. A personal visit to the grave of the deceased confirmed the accurate figure to be 13.
The measles outbreak, it was learnt, was transferred by the Fulani children to the children of the IDPs through interaction in the only primary school built by government in the village.
“There are no benches in the school so all the pupils sit on the floor. There is no hospital or pharmacy here so when the measles broke, we reported to FEMA (FCT Emergency Management Agency). FEMA called Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) to send us doctors. The measles had been ravaging for 11 days before the doctors came. The children died around November. Some died on the 15th, some on the 13th ,” Usman further submitted.
Sarah Andrew, 27, an indigene of Gwoza who has lost relatives and friends to the Boko-Haram insurgency, also confirmed the demise of the children stating the cause of their deaths as Kada (an Hausa name for measles).
Sarah Andrew
“The children died as a result of lack of immunization. I have been here for two years and I have witnessed pregnant women and children dying,” she said.
Measles is an infectious disease which leads to significant deaths among children in developing countries. It was after these deaths that other IDP children in Wasa were immunized; fulfilling the delayed promise of the health ministry to take measles campaign to the to the doorsteps of all Nigerians irrespective of their place of residence in the country.
However, despite this medicine- after- death approach, investigation by The Nation shows that children in various IDP settlements within Abuja may be in for other disasters judging by the poor sanitation conditions of the five IDP locations visited. The settlements in Wasa, Waru, Durumi, Kuchingoro, Karmajiji Tudun Muntsira are occupied mainly by people from Gwoza local government in Bornu state.
Findings show that the children usually come down with complaints of running stomachs. They are also susceptible to gastrointestinal infections like diarrhoea and Cholera. Polio and Trachoma, an infectious disease of the eyelid spread by poor hygiene and sanitation arising from lack of adequate safe water supply could also result in the future.
When The Nation visited Wasa village, the only borehole for the IDPs built by a youth corps member was no longer functioning. The children were seen fetching water from an infected pond, judging from the brownish colour of the water springing from it. Other children gathered at a well where their fetchers were already scratching the base of the well bringing out coloured water. The scarcity of water is made worse by the parching dust and dryness of the Harmattan season. The abandoned uncompleted estate they occupy has no toilets. They wade to the bushes not far from their surroundings to answer the call of nature. There is also no electricity supply.
The Worst Place to be Born
When the Economist Intelligence Unit, EIU, a sister company of The Economist magazine ranked Nigeria as the worst place to be born in 2013, it certainly did not include the plights of children born in IDP locations in the FCT as an indices for the projection.
The heat was intense on a Wednesday afternoon when the reporter called into Esther Tanko’s tent at the Durumi location for IDPs of Gwoza indigenes in the FCT. She radiates the warmth of a woman who just welcomed a bundle of joy. She is one of the lucky few who possess a mattress which lay on a bare floor. Her son, who is nearing two weeks, is yet to be named. His circumcised penis is still reddish from slow healing, made worse by the hot weather which permeates easily into the shacks used to build the tent. The heat pierces the skin of an adult.
The mother of seven, who spoke in Hausa, narrated her pregnancy ordeal: “This particular pregnancy was very tough for me. There is no hospital here and there was nobody to help. It was some members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG that I attended that took me to the Wuse General Hospital where my blood sample was taken and I was diagnosed of typhoid and malaria. The church paid the hospital bills and bought baby things for me.”
Esther gave birth with the help of other women in the camp. She said the baby, who is almost two weeks old would be named after the pastor of the church which helped her survive the pregnancy.
Unlike Esther, who was able to get help, many of the women in the camp had had to rely on traditional methods during the course of pregnancy. There is no clinic and the hospital they were directed to use by the FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is quite a distance and many are not able to cough out money for taxi. They have been forced to rely on traditional methods of pregnancy care and this had not been without casualties.
Esther and baby
Mrs Liatu Ayuba who lost her husband, a policeman, to Boko-Haram and also nurses a 21 year old son handicapped by a bomb attack, is the woman leader at the Durumi IDP camp. She said she has helped deliver about 23 babies in various shackled tents since they arrived the settlement over a year ago.
“There was a particular delivery experience that I won’t forget. It was raining heavily and we could not get the mother’s to the proper position because the floor was wet and flooded. That day I cried. We later carried her with the help of other women to my own tent where she delivered the baby.”
Asked of the health infrastructure put in place for women and children within the various IDP locations in Abuja, the head of Public Relations Unit, FEMA, Josie Mudasiru, said there is no health infrastructure on ground for the IDPS because they are squatting on land belonging to private Nigerians.
“We only have arrangements with health secretariat and various NGOs to visit with doctors who attend to their health needs. Arrangement is also on with government hospitals to attend to pregnant women”, she further said.
The Agony of malnourished children
A sight is quite familiar in most of the IDP locations visited: children with stunted growth and brown coloured hair. This is not only linked to the fact that many of the IDPs rely on handouts from individuals to survive but also traced to the tortuous journey of escape for survival.
Naheema Suleiman, 30, lost a 15- year- old daughter in Sambisa Forest when she was trying to escape from Boko-Haram members who threatened to marry young women in her town. Also a Gwoza indigene, she is one of the IDPs in Karmajiji Tudun Muntsira where 56 households and a total of over 248 displaced persons are trying to eke out a living.
She told the grim tales of how small children were fed at the time they were fleeing their hometown.
“We packed Tuwo grains and mix it with water to make it appear like a pap and put in pet bottles. When we are on the road and the children begin to cry for food, we will give them to drink. When we reached Cameroun, they did not help us; they were chasing us away to the camp. Even if a child’s pant is wet and you want it to dry, they will ask you to remove it from the line. They told us not to put bombs in their place.
“From there, those who had money were able to go get a vehicle to Yola. Those who had no money were forced to the Cameroun IDP camp where there is no food and children were falling sick and suffering. Some children fell sick on the road and some women died. A woman had to give birth on the road. We could not stay at the IDP camp in Cameroun because we heard there are no food and children were falling sick and suffering.”
At the Kuchingoro camp, the reporter met with Chonfilawos Danladi and Luku John, both 11 years old Primary 3 pupils of a school donated by an NGO in their camp. They confessed to not eating breakfast, but relying on the free food served to them during break time.
Dr. Ifeanyi Nsofor, the Director of Consulting Services at EpiAfric, an organization involved in public health has worked in proving free medical services to displaced women and children in some IDP camps in the FCT.
His take on the health status of some of the children he has encountered: “Most children who were brought to the clinic showed physical signs of malnutrition, including stunted growth with signs of failure to thrive. The common complaints included abdominal pains, cough, catarrh and fever. The poor sanitation within the camp exposes all residents to infectious diseases. The rains also worsen the already poor sanitation within the camp and an outbreak of an infectious disease is just in the offing.”
Continuing, he said; “The pregnant women the volunteers saw have never attended antenatal clinics; one was in her 8th month of pregnancy. Most children had not been immunized and could acquire any of the vaccine-preventable diseases,” he submitted.
School without walls; emergency education for displaced children
IDP children at Kuchingoro
The bell tolled and the children swiftly move to form the assembly lines at the new Kuchingoro Camp. It was a sobering scene: some luck to get uniforms, while others wore dust-coloured house wears with feet adorned with slippers. Their faces were caked with Harmattan dust and a woman helped with cleaning their running nose with tissue. The reporter later learnt that she is the school nurse.
“We want to enforce some hygienic disciplines, but we don’t always have the water,” an anonymous source in the school confided in the reporter. Despite the obvious challenges, the children there are far better in terms of education than the other locations visited.
The school without walls is an initiative of Life Builders, an NGO coordinated by a management consultant and pastor, Sanwo Olatunji David. He confessed to being moved by the plight of the children who were not attending school when he visited them in 2013 for evangelism in the company of his wife. The school operates in two settlements of the IDPs in Kuchingoro.
“For the past 10 years, I fly business class or first class whenever I travelled overseas, but since the start of Life Builders, I now fly economy. It is not comfortable, but it is worth it when you see what your money does for the children,” he enthused.
The school, which caters to the educational needs of over 600 IDP children also provides feeding once a day for them. It has permanent teachers, three of whom are IDPs who were teaching in schools in their native state.
“It is capital-intensive, but you have to feed the children because if they don’t eat, they won’t be able to concentrate in class. It is like helping yourself because they could go round and become robbers to hurt you in the future”, the director of the project, Pastor David reasoned.
For many of the children who could not cope at the secondary level, the foundation is planning a vocational centre where they can learn skills in tailoring, welding, fish farming, carpentry and brick making, with which they would be able to use to sustain themselves when they return to their hometown after Boko-Haram had been conquered.
The NGO, it was learnt, also pay school fees for over 200 students in other IDP settlement in Nasarawa state. It is a huge project and the director said the organization is working on a sustainability plan of funding the project by organizing a stakeholders’ forum in February.
“ A good number of people have supported with books, school uniforms, but you can’t plan with it because it is not regular. The project has gotten to a point of no return. It is not like the days when we just started when I have to drive the car and my wife has to cook the food and my daughter who us an architect would also join in teaching the children. We were doing it alone until the number of the children got to a point where we had to call on God to raise our finances so could employ other people”, Pastor David submitted.
Cordelia Nyamsi, the proprietress of Golden Lamb Christian School, who volunteered to teach displaced children described her experience so far. “The experience has been challenging because of their background and the trauma they had been through. They are used to being taught in Hausa, so many of them don’t understand English; so the language is a barrier. Any time I teach and they respond, it gives me more reason to stay here.”
A teacher in the secondary section of the school, Sake Abdulahi, who left his local government in Bauchi due to delayed salaries, also shared his experience with the children:
“When we started this school, if you call one of the IDP children and say come, unless you use a sign language, they would run. But now, they can now actually understand the difference between come and go in English. They are assimilating knowledge and we are enjoying them.”
An estimated one million children have been forced out of school as a result of a violent attack by Boko-Haram, according to a United Nations report. Many of these children are cut off from education, but there is a semblance of educational of support for IDP children in Kuchngoro through the effort of one man who chose to see things differently. Unfortunately, other locations are not as lucky as the government schools where kids could be registered are located at far distances, out of the reach of the IDPs.
People without identity
To a large extent, IDPs in various settlements around Abuja are left on their own with no government help or recognition, a situation which further subjects them to poverty and squalor.
The Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Muhammad Sani Sidi, declared that there is no recognized internally displaced person camp in the FCT, urging those claiming to be IDPs in Abuja on account of insurgency to go back to their states and get registered.
However, Dr Allen Manasseh, a humanitarian agent and director with End of Violence And Restoration Our Ancestral Home Organisation, EVRAH disagrees. Manasseh, a native of Chibok who had worked to profile and assist IDPs both in government recognized camps and host community camps said:
“Anyone that is saying they have no business being here (Abuja) should recover their homes for them and let them return. Do you think they are happy being here sleeping on mats and eating from handouts? They have been fending for themselves all their lives from their villages and farms.
“Today, if their territories are safe, they are happy to go back. Is Gwoza accessible up till date? Where do they want them to go? Bama is not accessible if not in full military movement. Let us see the apparatus of government in shape in all the recovered territories and all will return willingly. Government is not managing any IDP camp in Abuja, the IDPs are at the mercies of ordinary Nigerians and NGOS,” he submitted.
At the back end of a makeshift tent in an IDP settlement at Kuchingoro, two toddlers, excluded from the school crowd, sit on the bare floor. With mucus running down their nose and dust caked feet; they relish loaf of dry bread. They had survived the terrors of war, but now their future lies bleak and undecided.
This is the first part of a two part -series supported with funds by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Abuja through the ACCESS Nigeria Project.
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Nigerian Army Troops of 7 Division on Wednesday began to clear Gwoza-Yamteke road of Boko Haram Improvised explosives devices (IED).
Some of the Pickup vehicles arrested from insurgents during military operations
Few of the Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) commonly used by Boko Haram insurgents
Former Minister for Labour and Productivity, Emeka Wogu, has commended President Goodluck Ebelle Jonathan and the military for successfully recapturing Gwoza, Brono State, which had been under the siege of the insurgent group, Boko Haram.
Wogu, speaking at his Umuogele Mbano country home on Saturday (yesterday) said the recovery of Gwoza town shows the commitment of the president in ending insurgency and restoring peace in the affected areas.
The former minister, who recalled the earlier promise made by the president and army authorities to end insurgency, lauded the tactical approach used by the army in recapturing the insurgent prone areas which he said has shown the commitment of the President Jonathan’s transformation agenda in dealing with insecurity in the country.
On the ongoing election, he lamented the late arrival of materials at his Umuogele Mbano Aba area and thanked the president for putting up measures to checkmate electoral violence.
The Defence Headquarters yesterday claimed that troops had dislodged Boko Haram insurgents from Gwoza,Borno State, and recaptured the town which had been under the control of the terrorists since August 6,2014.
The Defence Headquarters, in a tweet, said the town was recaptured yesterday morning by troops.
“FLASH: Troops this morning captured Gwoza destroying the Headquarters of the Terrorists self-styled Caliphate,” the DHQ said.
It added: “Several terrorists died while many are captured. Mopping up of entire #Gwoza and her suburbs is ongoing.”
The claims could not be independently verified.
There was no mention of the over 200 Chibok school girls who were abducted by the terrorists last April.
A woman freed from Gwoza by Boko Haram earlier in the week had said the girls were in the town.
There were fears that the Chibok girls might have been hurriedly relocated by Boko Haram leaders following the heavy bombardment of Gwoza.
Many of the insurgents were killed in the attack and others captured.
President Jonathan had said on Thursday that the town would be liberated yesterday.
The Defence Headquarters said all border areas that hitherto served as hideouts for the terrorists have been actively dominated by troops in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF).
The Director of Defence Information, Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, said some of the insurgents were already fleeing.
His words: “Just this morning(Friday), the gallant troops of the Nigerian military in a concerted and well-coordinated land and air operations have liberated Gwoza, the headquarters of their so called caliphate which they renamed ‘darul hikima’.
“This was preceded by successive sack of terrorists from towns and villages leading to Gwoza, the main objective.
“Several of the terrorists have died and many of them captured in the process. A lot of arms and ammunition have been recovered and the administrative Headquarters completely destroyed.
“A massive cordon and search has commenced to locate any of the fleeing terrorists or hostages in their custody.
“As at yesterday (Thursday), the military had been able to take over virtually all the enclaves and hideouts where the terrorists were marauding.
“It is observed that some of the terrorists are currently fleeing towards border areas. The fleeing terrorists will expectedly run into subsequent encounter with contingents of partners in the Multinational Joint Task Force who have been mandated to contain them accordingly.
“The mop up operation in Gwoza and other liberated areas will continue in order to ensure that no vestiges of terrorists or terrorism remain in our country.
“The Nigerian military and security agencies therefore thank Nigerians and our partners in the sub-region who have consistently encouraged and supported us in the course of these operations.
“The military is more than ever before determined to once and for all stamp out every trace of terrorism and insecurity in our country. All citizens are urged to remain vigilant and report every movement or assemblage of suspicious characters to the security forces so that NEVER AGAIN shall the evil elements regroup to terrorize or cause mayhem in our country.”
Olukolade said the recent reinvigoration of a partnership between Nigeria and these neighbouring countries under the auspices of Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) had boosted the battle against the insurgents.
The statement added: “Sequel to the violent and heinous crimes perpetrated by terrorists in North Eastern Nigeria, the Armed Forces of Nigeria was tasked to halt the carnage and restore sanity in that region. This resulted in the deployment of land and air forces.
“The deployment denied the terrorists the freedom of action they had hitherto enjoyed and they resorted to diversionary tactics known with terrorist groups around the world by carrying out isolated attacks and bombings.
“The series of deployment and operational effectiveness of the military were however challenged by the porosity of the borders, which gave the terrorists leverage to operate in Nigeria and retreat into safe havens in neighbouring countries of Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
“The recent reinvigoration of a partnership between Nigeria and these neighbouring countries under the auspices of Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) provided the desired response to the challenge, as these border areas that hitherto served as hideouts for the terrorists have been actively dominated by troops in the MNJTF.
“ This development decimated the fighting capabilities of the terrorists, as the Nigerian military carries out a final onslaught on the nation’s enemy within the country. These successful operations have culminated in the dislodgment of terrorists from towns and communities in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states.”
A top military source, who spoke in confidence, said: “Troops have begun a manhunt for Boko Haram leader, Imam Abubakar Shekau and top Boko Haram leaders.
“The troops have also been looking for the whereabouts of Chibok girls who some Boko Haram captives claimed were in Gwoza.
“We are suspecting that the Chibok girls might have been relocated after heavy air strikes, but we will liberate these innocent students.”
Usman Ali, a 35-year-old Gwoza farmer, said Shekau addressed his fighters on March 15 and told them to kill the women they have taken as wives.
“He said they should go back to Gwoza and kill all of their women they left behind. He said if they didn’t kill them they would not join them in paradise,” he told AFP after managing to escape.
“They took us along to Gwoza where we witnessed the carnage.”
Shekau declared Gwoza the capital of a new Islamic caliphate after he seized the town in August.
As soon as the terrorists seized the town, one of the biggest in the state, they embarked on a systematic killing of the residents .
Thousands of others, including the Emir, Alhaji Muhammed Timta, fled.
The group also erected its flag, declaring the area as an Islamic caliphate.
The failure of the government and military of President Goodluck Jonathan to rescue the girls created international outrage and continues to dog him as he stands for re-election.
Nigeria’s military, with support of troops and military aircraft from neighboring countries, in the past two months has retaken dozens of towns from Boko Haram.
Jonathan’s opponents have said the offensive is a political ploy, asking why Nigeria’s military, of which Jonathan is the commander in chief, suddenly is capable of doing what it has failed to do for nearly six years.
Many terrorist have been killed in air strike targeted at Sambisa Forest and Gwoza, it was learnt yesterday.
Sambisa is believed to be Boko Haram’s biggest hideout. Gwoza in Adamawa was seized by the sect, which abducted many policemen from the Police Training School in the town. The Defence Headquarters said hundreds of the terrorists were fleeing.
But ground troops were yet to be mobilised to the forest and Gwoza for strategic reasons.
The fleeing insurgents were said to have stormed a village and killed many residents.
Top on the mission of troops was the search for the 219 Chibok girls whose abduction on April 14, last year has embarrassed the Federal Government.
It was learnt that the air strikes were video taped.
The video may be shown to Nigerians later, the military said.
Defence Information Director Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade gave insights into the operation in a statement in Abuja.
The statement said: “A concerted air campaign by the Nigerian Air Force is ongoing in furtherance of the mission to clear terrorists from all their enclaves.
“The air strikes which today targeted the training camps and logistics dumps of the terrorists in Sambisa forests and parts of Gwoza have been highly successful as it achieved the aims with required precision.
“The death of a large number of terrorists has been recorded while many others are also scampering all over the forest and out of the struck bases. Details of casualty will be determined in subsequent phases of the operation.
“Meanwhile, the strikes continue in other locations of the theatre heralding the advance of troops and other elements of the mission.”
A military source said: “We are getting to the critical leg of the military campaign against Boko Haram insurgents. This is why military officers from the ranks of Brigadier-General and Colonel are leading the onslaught against the insurgents.
“The air strikes on Sambisa and Gwoza were also simultaneously video recorded by troops for Nigerians to appreciate their campaign.”
On the fate of Chibok girls, the military source said: “We have placed priority on the search for these girls in our mission to Sambisa Forest and Gwoza.
“As we conduct air strikes, we are trying to locate where the girls are kept in order to liberate them. This is one of the reasons why ground troops have not moved in.
“You know, Sambisa and Gwoza are the two main strongholds of Boko Haram. Once these towns are recaptured by troops, the end of the insurgency has come.”
Another military source said: “The insurgents have started fleeing Sambisa Forest and Gwoza but there is no more hiding place for them.
“They have become frustrated to the extent that while fleeing, they stormed a village in anger and slaughtered everyone around.”
A military operation is underway to reclaim Gwoza, Borno State from Boko Haram, a week after the sect proclaimed the district an Islamic Caliphate.
Five of the 27 policemen who went missing during the Boko Haram seizure of the town and the attack on the Nigeria Mobile Police Academy in Gwoza, have rejoined their units unhurt, it was learnt yesterday.
Expected to be liberated immediately from the terrorists are Gwoza and 14 surrounding villages.
The terrorists are understood to have blocked access roads to the town prompting the troops to launch what a security source described as “fierce attacks.”
“Some active military operations are ongoing but we will not talk until we have regained the town and other villages,” the source said yesterday
“All I can tell you is that Nigerian troops are capable. They did it in Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and other places. There is no basis for not dealing with the insurgents at home.
“We have launched fierce attacks both on land and in the air. We are prepared to reclaim Gwoza from the insurgents who have become tired of Sambisa Forest because the terrain has become marshy.”
Responding to a question, the source added: “Troops would have taken over Gwoza by now but the operation is tactical because we are sticking to the rules of engagement.
“We have discovered that the insurgents have been using most of their captives as human shield in launching attacks on troops and invasion of villages. But their antics cannot last.”
It was also gathered yesterday that five of the 27 policemen who went missing from the Nigeria Mobile Police Academy during the Boko Haram invasion of Gwoza have returned safely to their units.
The Police hierarchy was hopeful yesterday that the remaining 22 police trainees would rejoin their formations soon.
A source familiar with the development said: “Following the invasion of the Academy by the insurgents, some of the mobile policemen ran into the bush and they have been trying to find their path in the last few days.
“Do not forget that some of them are not used to the Gwoza terrain because they are not from the area. They also have to navigate their ways in such a manner that they will not fall victims of Boko Haram.
“Most often, those who survived Boko Haram attacks have been linking up with their different units through Adamawa State.”
When contacted, the Force Public Relations Officer, CP Emmanuel Ojukwu, said: “Five of the policemen have returned safely to their stations. Some may have gone back but yet to officially report.
“Let me assure you that we will recover the Academy in Gwoza from the insurgents, we are not giving in at all.”
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