Adodo Osewengie
The Governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum has said his government needed external assistance to help resettle the over 50,000 internally displaced citizens caused by insurgency in Borno State.
According to him, viable support to guarantee medium and long-term resettlement plans for the returnees who are majorly farmers will be a welcome development.
Zulum made this call on Wednesday during a courtesy visit to his office by the United Nations (UN) delegation led by the Acting UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, Mr. Mathias Schmake.
Affirmatively, he told the UN delegation that his government is doing everything possible to adequately resettle persons from areas where peace has finally been restored.
The governor refuted the allegations that some of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the camps in Maiduguri are being forcefully ejected from the humanitarian confinements and assured Mr. Mathias Schmake that his resettlement plan conform to the Kampala Convention.
He added that a committee saddled with the responsibility to monitor the progress of the IDPs as they pick up the pieces from their lives has been constituted.
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Zulum said the government needs to synergise with the UN and other relevant agencies to avoid the duplication of programmes designed to address areas of importance to resettle these IDPs.
In a statement made available to newsmen, he said, “there are over 50,000 resettled farmers that returned to their recovered communities who are in need of support to pick up their lives once again.
“We also need humanitarian support for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in many camps outside Maiduguri.
“We want your help in medium and long-term sustainable solutions. Let’s work together in addressing grey areas and avoid duplication of some programmes”, he added.
The leader of the UN delegation, Mr Mathias Schmake, commended the governor for his commitment towards resettling the IDPs noting that the UN will continue to render its support where needed to prevent the resettlers from being dependent on aids.
