LAGOS, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The governor of northeast Nigeria's Bauchi State Mohammed Abubakar on Monday attributed the security challenges bedeviling the northern part of the country to illiteracy and poverty.

The governor told visiting Minister of State, Budget and National Planing, Zainab Ahmed in northern city of Bauchi that high level illiteracy and poverty had dragged many youth into joining groups of insurgents that were inflicting pains on the people, especially in the North East sub-region.

Abubakar said unless something was done to reverse the trend, the problem might continue.

On the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) currently taking refuge in the state, the governor said there was no permanent camps for IDPs in the state.

The governor told the minister that all the IDPs were currently been accommodated by their host communities.

He commended the federal government over some of the relief materials it has assisted the IDPs with in the state.

Earlier, the minister said she led a Federal Government team to the state to flag off distribution of food items to IDPs in the state.

Ahmed said the items were provided under Federal Government Special Intervention for Bauchi State, adding that 54,048 households would benefit from the gesture.

She said the intervention would be done on a quarterly bases to ease the hardship being faced by the victims.

Security situation in the Northern part of Nigeria became so alarming following the activities of the Boko Haram Islamic sect.

Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 and displaced 2.3 million people in its attacks since 2009. Enditem