Nigeria to Repatriate 56,000 IDPs from Niger Republic, Says NEMA

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) wednesday said it had concluded plans to repatriate 56,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), from Difa, Niger Republic.

The Northeast Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, Bashir Garga, disclosed this during a humanitarian and development coordination forum organised by the agency in Maiduguri, Borno State capital.

Garga said the IDPs were those who escaped Boko Haram onslaught in the last seven years in Mobbar and Abadam Local Government Areas of Borno State.

He said all arrangements had been made with the government of Niger Republic to ensure that they are brought back to Nigeria.

“There were serious concerns on insecurity in some of the liberated local government areas.

NEMA is working with the security agencies toward ensuring that the liberated LGAs are safe and habitable for the returnees.

“But much still need to be done. So we are urging the humanitarian organisations to give attention to developing the liberated communities.

“This is because some of the IDPs, after going back home, return to where they were because their homes are not habitable.

“We need to encourage them and reassure them of their safety all the time,” he said.

In his remarks, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Borno Command, Ahmed Bello, who gave update on the security situation, said proactive measures had been adopted to protect the IDPs.

Bello said the force had deployed no fewer than 50 mobile police units in communities liberated from Boko Haram to enhance law and order.

He said the force also trained some personnel on conflict resolution techniques to curb issues of land grabbing, cattle rustling and other menace arising in the liberated communities.

He explained that the command was working with traditional leaders, civilian JTF and other partners in the state to check crime.