Insurgency: 900,000 displaced persons return to Adamawa ― UNHCR

THE representative of United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to Nigeria, Mr Antonio Canhandula, has revealed that more than 900,000 displaced persons as a result of Boko Haram insurgency have returned to their home state of Adamawa.

He said this number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) has returned to their local government areas in Adamawa because the areas were now safe.

Canhandula made this known on Wednesday in Abuja at a consultation meeting on the global compact on refugees.

He noted that the only two LGAs- Michika and Madawagali near the Borno State that was not yet safe for the return of the indigenes displaced by the insurgency.

He, however, lamented that the conditions of some of these returnees remain very poor because of the lack of infrastructure to accommodate them.

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He also revealed that some of the IDPs have returned to Yobe State, explaining that the figure was however lower than that of Adamawa.

“What we have today is a situation where the South of Borno is peaceful but the North remains quite unstable. We are talking of 1.2 million internally displaced population that we have access to,” he said.

He noted that the total population of IDPs that are accessible was different from the number that receives assistance.

On the number of Nigerians displaced out of the country, as a result, Boko Haram insurgency, he disclosed 94, 000 are refugees in Cameroon, in Chad 12,000, and in Niger 112,000.

He said the Commission in collaboration with other stakeholders in Nigeria has registered a total 46, 000 Cameroon refugees, about 5600 in Taraba state, 6400 in Benue state and many others in Cross Rivers State.

He noted there was a tripartite agreement between the governments of Nigeria and Cameroon and UNHCR, adding that the agreement was signed in 2017, which laid out the conditions for the repatriation of refugees from Cameroon.

Some of the conditions include voluntariness and safety among others.

He said: “The creation of conditions n the country of origin for the return of its nationals is one core tenet of the Global Compact.

“This is our opportunity as UNHCR to encourage the Nigerian government to do more and more urgently to create the social, economic and institutional conditions for the return of its nationals from neighbouring countries: safe and security first, but also services and infrastructure,” he said.