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United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Samantha Power, yesterday said Nigeria urgently needed a viable military action to end activities of Boko Haram.

The African Media Hub of the U.S. Department of State in a statement said Power also called for a regional strategy to disrupt Boko Haram’s hideouts, weapons’ flow and means of recruitment.

“The repeated attacks by Boko Haram, which have killed 27 in the Lake Chad region, require viable military action and a wider regional strategy to disrupt their safe havens, weapons flow and recruitment.

“It’s also essential that the socio-economic condition in the areas being exploited by Boko Haram be addressed and that their dire humanitarian conditions be addressed as well,” she said.

The statement also said that it was imperative for government to ensure that the rule of law was returned to the affected parts of the North-East of the country.

It added that the U.S. envoy also stressed the importance of “decisively combating and defeating armed groups” in Nigeria.

The statement also said perpetrators of violence and terrorism in the country needed to be held accountable, while the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, kept in safe places.

“It is really important for leaders to begin to look at the welfare of their societies.

“They should ensure stability and inclusive governance to ensure that basic dignity and human rights are protected,” she said.

In a related development, police in Adamawa State said it had uncovered plots by Boko Haram to recruit young pupils in schools and initiate them as members.

The state police command, which raised the alarm in Yola, through a statement signed by Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Othman Abubakar, said the ploy involved the distribution of items such as sweets, dates palm (Dabino), sugar cane, coconut to schools and young persons under the guise of philanthropy with the view to initiate them into Boko Haram and cultism.

The police therefore alerted parents, principals and proprietors of schools to caution their children and wards from receiving anything from strangers and to report such immediately to the force.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday declared that the return of persons displaced by Boko Haram insurgency to their home communities would begin in earnest next year.

A statement issued by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said Buhari spoke at an audience with a delegation from the International Rescue Committee, IRC, led by former British Foreign Minister, Mr. David Miliband.

The President said his administration would do all within its powers to facilitate the quick return and resettlement of over two million internally displaced persons in their towns and villages.

The President told Miliband that the Federal Government would welcome the support of IRC and other local and international non-governmental organisations for the rehabilitation of internally displaced persons.

“In 2016, the return of the IDPs will start in earnest. They will return to their communities to meet destroyed schools and other infrastructure which have to be rebuilt.

“With agriculture being moribund in the region in the last two years without cropping, hunger is already manifest. We will welcome all the help we can get to assist the returnees,” Buhari said.

Responding to a request by Miliband for the Federal Government’s priorities as to the nature of assistance required for the IDPs, the president said there was an urgent need for support in the areas of agricultural inputs, health, nutrition, water and sanitation.

Buhari urged IRC and other international agencies to work with the Presidential Committee on the North-East and the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, which, he said, were already doing a lot to cater for the IDPs and restore some basic infrastructure in communities affected by terrorism and insurgency.

In his response, Miliband assured Buhari that IRC would intensify its ongoing work in Nigeria which had assisted over 350,000 displaced persons, mainly in Adamawa and Borno states.

He called for an increased security presence in recovered towns and territories, saying that most prospective returnees still feared for their safety on their return home.