From Tom Garba, Yola
The Federal Government on Sunday received over 18,000 Nigerian IDPs from central Africa and expressed its readiness to properly take care of them before dispatching them to their states of origin.
The IDPs who are lodged at the international transit camp in Fufore local government area of Adamawa, which has state-of-the art facilities to make them feel at home. The Fufore Transit Camp was where repatriated Nigerians from Central African Republic and Cameroon Republics were camped after being received by NEMA at Nigeria-Cameroon boarder in Mubi.
The camp was designated as rest centre by the agency to enable the returnees relax, register and later evacuated to their respective states
Air Vice Marshal, Charles Otegbade, who, on behalf of Director General of NEMA Alhaji Sani Sidi, led the team of Federal Government officials who received the returnees expressed satisfaction on the facilities at the camp.
Otegbade, who was the Director Search and Rescue of NEMA, however, said the shortage of some items at the camp, particularly delivery kits, which the agency was working on to address
He said that thousands of Nigerians who fled the country to Cameroon as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency, had been returning home since August,
“The Agency, between Monday to Saturday received 1,306 Nigerian returnees from the Republic of Cameroon. Since from August this year to date, we received over 18, 000 Nigerians from Central African and Cameroon Republics,” Otegbade said.
He said that the number of the returnees was increasing on daily basis and that no record of casualty was recorded and that women and children were majority among the returnees.
On rampart complain of abuses experienced by the returnees while in Cameroon, Otegbade confirmed that the agency received such a report and it has passed it to the appropriate authorities.
Leave a Reply