FG says it is working diligently to return home 500,000 Nigerians who fled their homes due to Boko Haram’s horrific attacks and are now stranded in neighbouring nations.
The federal commissioner of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons, Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim, said that the government would repatriate fleeing Boko Haram victims from Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.
The commissioner disclosed this in New York at the 77th session of the UN General Assembly.
She delivered her remarks on the margins of a high-level side session titled ‘Strengthening Resilience and Sustaining Development: A Humanitarian Development Peace Approach to Leaving No One Behind.’
“We have almost about 500,000 awaiting repatriation. The next batch will consist of 1,000 people, and it is a spontaneous return that is happening now, and we are looking after them as they come back,” Ms Suleiman-Ibrahim said.
According to her, the Northeast has a presidential committee on repatriation, which will supplement the commission’s technical working group on repatriation.
“It is a process that has been ongoing, and we have started repatriation. We are experiencing involuntary returns from Nigerians in those countries. So, it’s going to happen before the end of Mr President’s tenure. We would have brought everybody back home, and there is funding allocated for us,” the commissioner explained.
Over 90,000 repentant Boko Haram ISWAP militants willingly surrendered to the Nigerian Army for disarmament, de-radicalization, and reintegration, according to Governor Babagana Zulum.
“I want to bring to the notice of this gathering that within the last one year, Borno state government, and indeed the federal government, has so far received over 90,000 repentant Boko Haram and ISWAP members,” Zulum stated. “This has never happened anywhere in the history of the world. The insurgency is coming to an end.”
The governor said that 22 local government areas in Borno, out of the 27 local government areas, were being controlled by Boko Haram.
“But today, none of our local government areas are under the control of Boko Haram insurgents,” Mr Zulum said.
