The National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, NCFRMI, has commenced talks with the Borno State Government to bring back indigenes of the state from neighboring countries.
The Federal Commissioner of NCFRMI, Basheer Mohammed, stated this in an exclusive interview with select journalists shortly after a meeting with a delegation of Borno State Government led by Governor Babagana Zulum at the Commission’s office in Abuja, Thursday.
According to him, the commission in collaboration with its development partners like the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNCHR, is geared towards creating a lasting solution to the returning refugees of Borno State and any other state in the federation.
“The Commission will do everything possible to bring back the indigenes of Borno State from our neighboring countries in accordance with International Humanitarian Law as we seek to put everything in place for an easy reintegration and rehabilitation back to safer communities for them”, Senator Mohammed added.
“Nigeria has the second largest number of displaced persons in Africa and Borno State with a figure of 1.8 million displaced persons is the biggest in the country. Therefore, this means a lot to the government to bring back home the concerned persons to a life of dignity and prosperity,” the federal commissioner further stated.
Mr Mohammed further stressed that President Muhammadu Buhari is deeply concerned about the general well-being of all persons of concern in Nigeria and the neighbouring countries, adding that the President had directed that every Nigerian refugee should be returned home to a life of dignity in their states of origin.
“Therefore, we at the Commission are taking this directive seriously and have gone far in this regard, as we have already secured 50 hectares of land in about 7 states, where we intend to build 500 household for resettlement, fully equipped with facilities and livelihood support schemes linked to clean water and health infrastructures,” he explained.
“This is part of our focal project this year; the resettlement city, which is geared towards moving away from being just food providers to the refugees and displaced persons to finding sustainable solutions to their problems by transiting them into full and dignified settlements,” he concluded.
On his part, Mr Zulum said the reach out from the Borno State indigenes is positive and beneficial as the refuges themselves want nothing more than to come back to Nigeria as they have shown that there is no place like home for them.
The governor, therefore, commiserated with the Commission on World Refugee Day and commended the Commissioner for his hard work and progressive efforts in making life much better for refugees and displaced persons in Nigeria.
