Borno State government has resettled 62,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in their ancestral homes and closed Dalori 11 displaced persons’ camp.
Dalori 1 and 11 IDPs’ camps host the largest victims of Boko Haram insurgency win Maiduguri, the state capital. They fled terrorists’ attacks on Bama local government area and its environs to the camps.
The chairperson of Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Hajiya Yabawa Kolo, gave the figure of the resettled IDPs in an interview with journalists during the official closure of Dalori 11 IDP camp in Maiduguri.
According to her, the decision to close all the camps in Maiduguri was informed by the recent improvement in the security situation in the state.
Kolo said, “Today, we are witnessing the returning of yet another 11,000 IDPs to their ancestral homes.
“The state government has provided adequate security in all the nine communities in the affected local government areas and it has given the households a sustainable livelihood that will enable them to continue staying in their ancestral homes. Therefore, there is no need for the IDPs to come back to camps again.”
“We have given them food and non-food items and also in the area of financial support in order for them to restore their lives, so far in the history of our camp closure this is the largest support.
“Also, a microfinance bank will open business opportunities and create windows for them to access loans so that they will adequately use what was given them to sustain themselves,” she said.
Kilo commended the Victims Support Fund (VSF) and other humanitarian agencies for their support in returning the IDPs to the ancestral homes.
Earlier, the executive director of VSF, Prof. Nana Tanko, said each household of the returning IDPs got N100,000, a bag of rice, grated maize, cooking oil, blankets and kitchen utensils among other items.
