Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan will ask the national assembly to extend a state of emergency in three northeastern states hit by an Islamist insurgency when it expires this week, the justice minister said on Monday.
Jonathan ordered troops into Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states in May last year.
Several hundred people have died in a five-year-old insurgency in the region by the Islamist group Boko Haram, and the emergency laws were extended in November and again in May this year.
“We just reviewed the issue of the state of emergency and the government will be requesting the National Assembly to extend the state of emergency,” Mohammed Adoke, the attorney general and minister of justice, told journalists in Abuja.
After a meeting of the National Defense Council chaired by Jonathan, Adoke said the bill would be presented to parliament immediately.
Boko Haram has defied the emergency to continue its attacks, and this week alone is suspected to have carried out suicide bombings at two schools, a market and a petrol station.
Jonathan, who is seeking re-election in February, has vowed to defeat the militants.
