IDPs: Their pains and need to return them to their homeland

As of 2021, the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria as a result of conflicts was about 3.1 million, according to a report by the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI).

Many of the displaced persons migrated to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and other parts of the country, where they live in camps and are at constant risk of becoming homeless and exploited.

The IDPs say these displaced persons face starvation, a lack of shelter, and healthcare challenges, among others.

Life is becoming unbearable for these people who are concerned about staying in such conditions at different camps.

They, therefore, call on the Federal Government to take the necessary steps to facilitate their return to their homelands.

They say that their plights have become boring as they are no longer comfortable in the strange environment and can no longer engage in farming and other socio-economic activities for their livelihood.

Against this backdrop, analysts concur that it is time the IPDs were returned to their homelands, as their continued stay in their makeshift remains could pose some security, environmental, and social threats to their host communities and environs.

At New Kuchigoro Camp, FCT, Mr. Wilfred Kume, an indigene of Borno, appealed to the new administration to restore peace and security in their states to enable them to return home.

Kume said they had been at the camp for over 10 years due to insurgencies in some communities in the area.

He said that although the government made efforts to return some IDPs to other camps, those in New Kuchigoro Camp felt forgotten.

“We have been here for many years now. The government brought us because of the Boko Haram crisis; since then, it has done virtually nothing concerning our plight.

“Since we have been here, we have no better schools for our children; there is no water here, so we suffer to get water.

“Our challenges are numerous, ranging from caring for children, grandchildren, mothers, and grandmothers.

“The government continues to keep us here without anything; we don’t have work at hand, and we don’t have good food to eat, but for the churches and NGOs that have been assisting us with food items, we will die of starvation,’’ he said.

Wilfred appealed to the new government to do the needful to ensure their return to their native homes, as they were eager to return.

“Look at where we are living; we are living in batchers; we are not comfortable here; this is not our land.

“This is a strange land to us, so we want to go back to our place and let the new government help us,’’ he said.

Also, Mrs. Hannatu Katghaifa, another Borno indigene and the assistant Coordinator of the camp, said the camp also had other people who were not displaced living with them.

“Here in the New Kuchigoro, it is not only internally displaced people that are living here; we also have host communities, people that we met here.

“They are living on one side of the camp and we are on the other side, and their population is more than 3000; our population is 1500, both children and old people.

“The challenge is that our children are always sick because we are not getting food. People are tired of donating food; we have been here since 2014,” Katghaifa said.

Similarly, at Durumi, Area 1 camp, statistics show that the number of households in the camp is about 215 made up of 103 adults above 45 years, 1,750 youths between ages 15 and 45, and 740 children between ages 1 and 15, while the number of orphans is put at 22.

Speaking on the challenges in the camp, Mr. Umaru Gola, the Camp Public Relations Officer (PRO), said the major issues the displaced persons are facing are health and education.

Gola said that the government’s intervention in their welfare was only five percent, as some spirited Nigerians provided the rest.

According to him, out of 245 schoolchildren, 200 are in school courtesy of some benevolent Nigerians, while the rest are yet to be enrolled due to a lack of sponsorship.

On government plans to resettle displaced persons in the country, the wife of the President, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, during her recent visit to some IDP camps in the FCT, said that President Bola Tinubu would consolidate the achievements of the Buhari administration in matters relating to IDPs.

Represented by the National Women Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Betta Edu, Tinubu said that the new administration had in its action plan provisions for resettlement of the IDPs.

On her part, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, the Federal Commissioner of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), said that the Commission has designed various intervention programs to alleviate the plight of displaced persons.

They include Project Zero Hunger, which seeks to ensure that no displaced family goes without food.

Others she mentioned were “Project Skill-Up, which addresses the socioeconomic needs of migrants to enable them to learn new skills and be empowered to fend for themselves.

“There is also Project Reliance, which is a comprehensive Empowerment program geared towards providing durable solutions, among other projects, all aimed at mitigating the impact of climate change on affected communities”.

The commissioner said that the commission would continue to ensure that the most durable and sustainable solutions were put in place for the reintegration, rehabilitation, and resettlement of persons of concern into society.

Most of the IDPs are from the north-east, and the North East Development Commission (NEDC) says it will leave no stone unturned to ensure that the region is reconstructed so that the displaced persons will return home.

In 2022, the Commission set out an ambitious N31 trillion North East Development Master Plan aimed at rebuilding the region following the devastation caused by the Boko Haram insurgency.

Speaking at the validation meeting of the master plan Thursday in Abuja, the then Managing Director of NEDC, Mohammed Alkali, was quoted by the media as saying the plan was necessitated by the NEDC Act that required the commission to “develop a master plan based on the needs assessment of the zone.”

Analysts say one of the greatest needs of the displaced is to return them to their ancestral homes. Therefore, NEDC and other relevant agencies should expedite action on that.

By Jacinta Nwachukwu