The insurgent group, Boko Haram, is believed to have reportedly sent no fewer than 80 of its members to join forces with the ISIS extremists fighting in Libya.
Boko Haram are also suspected to be fighting in Niger Republic in what is being interpreted as the strengthening of its ties with the Islamic State Group.
The sect pledged allegiance to IS’s in March. In June Boko Haram was declared its West African province.
The Sentinel magazine of the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation in an article estimated that between 80 and 200 Boko Haram fighters are currently in the Libyan city of Sirte.
It also said that Algerian security forces believe that Boko Haram fighters have joined other militants in northern Niger.
“The openness of migration routes from Nigeria through eastern Niger to Libya makes travel … fairly straightforward, and the Islamic State can easily afford to pay smugglers to carry militants (and weapons) along that route,” it said.
The Nigeria Immigration Service claimed to have barred 23,472 people from leaving the country between January 2014 and March 2015.
“There have been reports in recent times of some Nigerians departing to join terrorist groups especially in the Middle East and North Africa,” said PR Nigeria, which publishes government news.
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