Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum has urged the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to address plights of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in camps and communities.
The over a decade-long Boko Haram insurgency has claimed 36,000 lives with property worth $9.2b (about N3.42tr) in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.
In a statement, yesterday, in Maiduguri, Special Adviser to the Governor on communication and strategy, Isa Gusau, disclosed that the 1.5 million IDPs are in need of food in Maiduguri and other insurgency communities.
Zulum raised the alarm in a letter presented Thursday to NEMA’s Director General, AVM. Muhammadu Alhaji Mohammed (rtd) during his visit in Abuja.
He informed the agency’s boss of IDPs’ critical needs in 11 military liberated towns.
“Zulum, in a letter, informed NEMA’s Director General, that IDPs in Monguno, Bama, Damboa, Gwoza, Dikwa, Gambouru, Ngala, Damasak, Banki, Pulka and Gajiram need urgent access to food supplies,” Gusau said.
“We acknowledge the North East Development Commission (NEDC) and efforts by the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), following presidential directive two years ago that food seizures be used for humanitarian support in crisis areas.”
In his view, food interventions must be sustained, since majority of IDPs rely on agriculture as means of their livelihoods.
“Most IDPs in camps and returnees cannot access their farmlands, due to terrorists’ attacks,” he said.
Mohammed assured the Governor of sustained support, while lauding Zulum’s efforts towards transforming the state with a 25-year development plan.
Zulum also met the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema, on the intergovernmental efforts to repatriate about 300,000 refugees from Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
He explained that Borno citizens displaced by insurgency had been taking refuge in Cameroon since 2014.
“Over 60,000 of such refugees are in Minawawo IDP Camp in Cameroon, awaiting repatriation to Nigeria,” he said.
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