Those displaced by Boko Haram can’t return home soon – Foreign Diplomats

A group of diplomats rose from a meeting with the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), on Monday with a promise that their countries would assist Nigeria with modalities that will ensure smooth resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons.
The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle; and the Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union, Michel Arrion, briefed State House correspondents at the end of the meeting.
They said they used the opportunity of the meeting to compare notes with Osinbajo and his team.
Entwistle said: “We have come in a group today to meet with the Vice President and his team just to compare notes as friends on what the situation in the North East.
“We want to make sure we understand each other on the scope and the size of the humanitarian challenge and we can coordinate when the time comes for the Internally Displaced Persons to go home, which we do think will, unfortunately, be some time away.
“We also discussed several up coming workshops and conferences.
“But essentially, this is a group of diplomats that represent countries that stand ready to help and indeed are already helping the government with the humanitarian crisis in the North East just to compare notes with the Vice President and we found that your government and all of our governments we think we understand the scope of the job and today’s meeting will really help us to do everything we can to alleviate the whole of the human suffering going on in the North East.”
Arrion said the meeting also looked at to what extent the international community could support the Nigerian government to respond to the humanitarian crises.
He said: “I think that the main message that we agreed upon with the government was certainly that we need a comprehensive and global response.
“It is not only a security crisis, it is not only political, not only a development or humanitarian crisis, but it is all of that.
“So to this global crisis we need a global response and we have just reassured his excellency the Vice President that the international community was ready to support the government.
“We have also discussed a few conferences and workshops that will take place as soon as possible, where we invite stakeholders on this comprehensive response, the military, the security services but also the various Nigerian agencies in charge, NEMA and others and also the states and the governors who are playing major role in terms of delivery and implementing the various policies to address the challenges in the North East.”