Letter from Africa: How to rebuild Nigeria after Boko Haram

The World Bank estimates that more than 500 schools have been damaged by Boko Haram

In our series of letters from African journalists, Mannir Dan Ali, who edits Nigeria's Daily Trust paper, considers the hard task of rebuilding lives and communities now that the worst of the Boko Haram insurgency seems to be over.

Nigeria's north-eastern Borno State covers 92,890 sq km (35,865 sq miles) - an area bigger than Portugal.

It straddles the Lake Chad region bordering Cameroon, Chad and Niger and has been worst hit by the seven-year Islamist militant insurgency.

Its capital, Maiduguri, was at the epicentre of the conflict, and now hosts tens of thousands of people who have fled the fighting.

Borno seems to be taking the initiative in pushing ahead in efforts to rebuild lives - and has been given a boost with pledges of help from the government and international partners.

But it is a colossal task.

Scorched earth

World Bank figures put the cost of destruction in the affected region at nearly $6bn (£4.2bn), with more than two million people displaced.

Leaked World Bank report on Borno State destruction: 30% of 3.2 million private houses 5,335 buildings at 512 primary, 38 secondary and two tertiary institutions 1,630 water sources 1,205 administrative buildings 726 power sub-stations and distribution lines. 201 health centres 76 police stations 35 electricity offices 14 prison buildings The town that lost its girls How I almost became a suicide bomber Using football to tackle Boko Haram Some people have started to trickle back to their communities, as seen in recent television reports from neighbouring Yobe state showing the residents of Buni Yadi, scene of the slaughter of 59 schoolboys, being escorted home by a posse of soldiers. Elsewhere, roads linking some communities in what was once a stronghold of Boko Haram have been opened with soldiers escorting convoys of private vehicles several times every day. However, those who are returning will find a scorched and flattened landscape with entire towns and villages destroyed. The area that was home to largely farming and fishing communities was already lagging behind in terms of development - one of the reasons given for the militants' ability to create such chaos.

Boko Haram promoted a version of Islam which made it "haram", or forbidden, for Muslims to take part in any political or social activity associated with Western society. What schools, hospitals and municipal buildings there were in areas once under the group's control have been destroyed. Bringing back life to such a huge swathe of territory will require what some have called a Marshall Plan for the north-east, in reference to the big reconstruction plan for Europe after World War Two. So far the federal government has set up a Victims Support Fund Committee to help raise funds to help in the reconstruction of the region. Authorities, individuals and organisations have been called upon to contribute whatever they can to the fund, with the government making its own donation.
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