The federal government has announced plans to start moving Internally Displaced People (IDP) and other vulnerable groups to permanent resettlement facilities across the nation. As disclosed, planned evacuations of Nigerians from Cameroon, Niger, and Sudan to Nigeria are also in progress. Refugees in Nigeria who want to leave and go home will soon be evacuated. Tijani Ahmed, the federal commissioner of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), revealed this during a visit and the delivery of relief aid to people living in Durumi, Wassa, and New Karshi IDP camps and host communities in the FCT.
There are currently about 12,000 displaced people living in the camps and communities from the states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe. Ahmed, discussing the plans to relocate the IDPs, emphasized that the displaced people cannot remain in camps forever. “We need to find a method to give them a permanent solution, and resettlement camps are one possibility. This government is making an effort to guarantee that those in the IDP camps are provided for because, if we leave them to continue as they are, it will be the beginning of additional issues for the country, he stated.
Preparations are being made to repatriate people in Cameroon.
As part of the ongoing effort, the commission has begun building permanent camps in Nasarawa, Zamfara, Kano, Maiduguri, Katsina, and Edo state, as it also intends to ensure that it constructs additional centers to settle the majority of the IDPs and refugees. This is because it simply cannot afford to keep them in temporary housing forever. Distribution of the commission’s newly constructed estates to displaced persons will begin very soon. Therefore, we are leaving the camps as the resettlement camps in the six states and more are being built, he said.
Also, the internally displaced people will soon receive training in a variety of disciplines to help them become self sufficient and less reliant on the government. The commission also intends to increase the size of the relocation camps to accommodate roughly 20,000 households across all of the states. Remarking on those currently outside the country, he assured the public that preparations were being made to repatriate our people in Cameroon and to send back those who are here and wish to go back to their countries.
Efforts are being made to repatriate foreign nationals.
Approximately 10,000 internally displaced persons would be repatriated from Cameroon to Nigeria and about seven thousand persons are available to move to Sudan and Niger. Efforts are also being made to repatriate some of the foreign nationals who have settled in Kano state, notably those who are from Sudan. The Federal Commissioner reported that 2,700 IDPs are housed in the Durumi camp, over 7,000 in the Wassa camp, and no fewer than 2,000 in the New Karshi camp.
He explained that the main purpose was to provide essential support in the form of agricultural inputs, school materials, and food care packages. Ahmed added that the government has reaffirmed its unshakable commitment to meeting the urgent needs of IDPs. In the spirit of the President’s renewed Hope Agenda, the commission is steadfast in its belief that no person, regardless of their gender, age, or other vulnerabilities, should be denied access to life-sustaining amenities. He added that it’s crucial to help internally displaced people.
Several items, food packages were distributed during the visit.
Both the displaced and the host communities may suffer economically and socially if they are ignored. Items distributed during the visit include 97 bags of 25kg rice, 97 cartons of spaghetti, 97 bags of 1kg semovita, 20 cartons of groundnut oils, 26 cartons of Maggi, 22 cartons of salt, 400 dozen customized exercise books, 180 pairs of school sandals,10 whiteboards, 10 whiteboard dusters,180 customized school bags, 180 customized plastic chairs, and tables, pens, and pencils. The agricultural supplies are; pesticide packs, herbicides, insecticides, sprayers, and irrigation pumps.
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