Governor Babagana Zulum disclosed this while addressing State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, in Abuja on Friday.

He said the decision was informed by the recent improvement in the security situation in the state as well as the need to return the IDPs to their ancestral homes.

“I came to brief the president on efforts made by Borno State government in ensuring the return of Internally Displaced Persons to their homes.

“So far so good, Borno State government has started well, and arrangements have been concluded to ensure the closure of all internally-displaced persons’ camps that are inside Maiduguri on or before December 31,” Governor Zulum said.

According to him, the President had assured him of his support towards the move.

Meanwhile, Governor Zulum also announced that after nearly three years, the naval base in Baga has been reopened as part of efforts to boost security in the Lake Chad region.

He said he had informed the President that the Chief of Naval Staff had ensured the return of the naval base to Baga last month, requesting additional support from the President to appropriately deal with the rising number of ISWAP members operating in the southern and northern part of the state.

The Baga naval base was attacked by Boko Haram insurgents in December 2018.

The terrorists carted away a cache of arms and ammunition from the armoury, forcing Nigerian troops to withdraw from the region.

But in June, Governor Zulum urged the military to reopen the base saying it had become necessary to secure farmers in the Lake Chad region.

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The 15 hostages were seized separately from the farming villages of Takulashi in Borno state’s Chibok district and Cofure in neighbouring Adamawa’s Hong district several months ago.

Chibok was the scene of the 2014 abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls by Boko Haram which earned the jihadist group global notoriety.

Three of the hostages along with their five children were seized during a raid on Takulashi in October last year, while the other three with their four children were abducted from Cofure in May, according to Zuwaira Gambo, Borno’s women affairs commissioner.

The hostages, including an eight-month pregnant woman from Cofure, “trekked for six days” from Buni Yadi forest in nearby Yobe state to Damboa town in Borno, a distance of around 90 kilometres (56 miles), Gambo said.

“They have displayed resilience, trekking in the bush for six days,” Gambo said while presenting the escaped hostages to Borno state governor Babagana Zulum and Christian leaders.

It was not clear who kidnapped the women and children, but Buni Yadi is a known enclave for the IS-linked Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which split from Boko Haram in 2016 to become a dominant force in the region.

Zulum expressed delight receiving the hostages after they “fell prey to Boko Haram terrorists,” a name officials use for both groups.

“We thank God Almighty for rescuing and protecting you from the hands of terrorists,” Zulum said.

Boko Haram and rival ISWAP are notorious for kidnapping women.

They have been engaged in a 12-year old conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million.

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