Nigeria's restive northeast state to re-open public schools

Public secondary schools in Nigeria's northeastern Borno state will reopen next Monday, an official has said, more than two years after their closure.

Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima announced that while meeting Rolf Ree, Norwegian Ambassador to Nigeria, in his office in Maiduguri, capital of Borno.

The schools were shut down in March 2013 after attacks by Islamist group Boko Haram on schools in Borno and neighbouring Yobe state.

Shettima said teaching would be restored in all secondary schools across the state, but added it would be limited to daytime schools.

"Very soon, we will make effort to reopen all the boarding schools too," he said.

The state government last week started the construction of 2,500 shelters for those who were displaced by Boko Haram and taking refuge in public schools in Maiduguri, which will give students room to return.

Boko Haram, active in northern Nigeria, started its insurgency in 2009 in an effort to establish an Islamic state.

It has killed some 13,000 people and kidnapped hundreds. Endit