Nigeria sets up camp for IDPs from Niger
APA - 10 May 2015 : Authorities in Nigeria’s embattled northeast state of Borno have confirmed the setting up of a special camp to provide care for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) recently repatriated from neighbouring Niger Republic.No fewer than 6,000 IDPs from Borno, taking refuge in some communities in Niger Republic, were sent packing by the Nigerien authorities, after insurgents, suspected to be Boko Haram fighters attacked the country.
Alhaji Grema Terab, Chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), told journalists in Maiduguri on Saturday that the government had decided to establish a special camp for the IDPs because of their peculiar case.
Grema said: “some of the IDPs were living in border communities between Nigeria and Niger Republic for years without having any business to visit the hinterland. We have to keep them in a camp for now, console them and treat those that are traumatised with the intention of allowing them to mix with other Nigerians soon.” He said the government was working towards assisting the IDPs with capital to start businesses.
Grema, said that another set of 17 mass transit buses had been dispatched to Geidam in Yobe State to convey the second batch of about 1,200 IDPs. The five-year insurgency by Boko Haram has left tens of thousands of people in northeastern Nigeria displaced in and out of the country.
Signature : APA
Copyright : ©APA