The Nigerian government announced on Monday it will help strengthen recovery and development in the Lake Chad region.

Sadiya Umar Farouq, the minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, made the remarks in a statement issued after a virtual ministerial World Bank Group roundtable on the Lake Chad region, noting that the country will focus on development projects in the region.

The minister said the country will focus on regional and national coordination platforms and local capacity building aimed at reinforcing regional dialogue and data collection and dissemination.

"The focal area is restoring rural mobility and connectivity which aims at improving access of communities to markets and to provide beneficiaries with an opportunity for short-term employment," said Farouq.

The ministry would also partner with the World Bank through the provision of a coordination structure for the targeted management of vulnerabilities through the agencies and programs under its supervision, she added.

The region faces a combination of multidimensional risk factors which deepen vulnerabilities, the minister said, noting that Boko Haram's violent activities show a transnational approach, spreading its terrorist attacks from Nigeria to Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

She said this has created a humanitarian crisis, increasing the number of internally displaced persons and refugees within the Lake Chad region.

"While the drivers of fragility and obstacles to growth existed before the insurgency, the ongoing conflict has compounded the region's difficulties," she said.