Zulum urges refugee commission to prioritise resettlement of IDPs

Gov. Babagana Zulum of Borno has called on the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), to accord priority to the resettlement of displaced persons.

Mr Isa Gusa, the Special Adviser to the governor on Public Relations and Strategy, stated this in a statement on Thursday in Maiduguri.

He disclosed that the governor made the appeal when the Federal Commissioner of the commission, Sen. Basheer Mohammed, paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House, Maiduguri.

He quoted the governor as saying that the commission should focus on creating permanent settlement for displaced persons rather than official IDPs camps.

Zulum stressed the need to move from the proliferation of IDPs camps to a durable solution through the establishment of permanent settlement and provision of livelihood to the displaced persons in safe areas.

“We are happy with your interventions; however, we request you not to focus on IDPs camps rather on stabilisation for the IDPs.

“I mean contributing in the construction of resettlement houses, which could be allocated to households as their permanent places of abode, and we provide means of livelihood to sustain them.

“As a government; we are moving from the phase of enhancing IDPs camps to the resettlement, and by resettlement, I do not mean building houses elsewhere, the houses could be located near the camps, we will provide the land,” Zulum said.

The governor added that his administration had established an agency to enhance coordination of humanitarian interventions, check duplication and streamline government’s policies and programmes.

The statement also quoted Mohammed as saying that Qatari Foundation had indicated interest to build a settlement for the displaced persons.

Mohammed appealed to the state government to provide land, to facilitate execution of the project.

He added that the commission had provided vocational and skills acquisition training to a number of displaced persons, to enable them to learn trades and become self-reliant.