The National Emergency Management Agency on Thursday said it received 1,187 Nigerian returnees from the Republic of Cameroon between Monday and Wednesday.
It said the returnees were received at the Fufore Internally Displaced Persons Camp in Adamawa State.
This was contained in a statement by Sani Datti, NEMA Senior Information Officer, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja.
NEMA said the returnees, comprising of men, women and children, were thoroughly screened and profiled by security agents before registration by NEMA and the Red Cross, which received them.
It said after registration, the returnees were provided food and basic needs, which included mattresses, buckets, plates, cups, mosquito nets and soaps, amongst other items.
The statement said another batch of about 15,000 returnees were expected at the Nigerian-Cameroon border through Mubi in the next few weeks.
It disclosed that 18,600 Nigerians had been returned and received by NEMA and other relevant stakeholders so far.
NEMA 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.
It said that their return was as a result of the improved security situation in the North East and the increasing concerns by the Cameroonian authorities on their prolonged stay in the country.
Muhammad Sani-Sidi, the Director-General of NEMA, said the Federal Government is putting in place programmes and policies to ensure the rehabilitation of Internally Displaced Persons.
Sani-Sidi said this on Wednesday in Abuja while fielding questions at the News Agency of Nigeria Forum.
According to him, resettlements plans and policies are underway following the success of security agencies in combating the insurgency and reclaiming captured communities.
“There are a lot of programmes and policies that have been put in place to address the problem of infrastructural damage in the North-East.
“The Victim Support Fund was set up to raise funds to cater for the IDPs; a presidential committee for reconstruction and rehabilitation was also set up.
|The Safe School Initiative was put in place to allow IDPs children to continue their education in camps.
“The committees were also set up to come up with some quick ways on how to address these challenges and how to assist them to go back to the liberated communities and continue with their lives.”
According to the director-general, many camps have been closed down following the voluntary return of IDPs to their communities.
He said there were 26 IDPs camps in Borno State while in Adamawa State, the number had reduced from 11 to five camps.
He said early this year, there was an impact assessment in the insurgency-ravaged states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States to evaluate the level of damage and the infrastructure to be rebuilt.
Sani-Sidi said although terrorism was entirely a new thing to Nigeria, it had become a global phenomenon and a global challenge.
He, however, said that it was the responsibility of the government to cater for the needs of its displaced citizens and address their plight.
He said that as at November, the population of IDPs in Nigeria was about 2.1 million.
NAN.
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