The National Emergency Management Agency says 46,000 Internally Displaced Persons displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency have returned to Borno State.
Alhaji Mustapha Maihaja, the Director General of NEMA, made this known while distributing relief materials to the displaced persons in Banki, Bama Local Government Area of Borno State.
He said that the IDPs fled to Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic at the peak of the insurgency.
Maihaja said that thousands of Nigerians who fled their homes in Banki in the wake of insurgents attacks had returned, following the success recorded in the counter-insurgency campaign.
He said: “About 46,000 displaced persons are registered here and we are receiving them on a daily basis in small and large numbers.
“The Federal Government is responding to the humanitarian crisis in the North East region.
“Our mission is to distribute relief materials, food and non-food items, to Nigerians returning from Cameroon.
“Government is aware that having secured the place and Borno in particular, the people who took refuge in border communities in Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic would come back to the country.
“The government adopted proactive steps to meet the needs and requirements of the affected persons in terms of shelter, food, health, growth. We are committed to improve their well being.”
Maihaja explained that the agency was responding promptly to the immediate needs of the returnees and distributed food items, mattresses, clothing materials and mosquito treated nets.
He noted that the agency provides 8.4 kg of food items every month per household.
Maihaja also said the agency had adopted effective modalities to provide schools and clinics in the camps to enable the affected children return to school, enhance hygiene and healthcare service delivery.
The director disclosed that the Federal Government has begun the distribution of 40,905 tones of assorted food items to displaced persons in Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Taraba and Yobe States.
According to him, the agency had initiated a comprehensive tracking system to monitor vehicular movement and distribution of relief materials to guard against diversion.
Maihaja added that the agency had embarked on the enumeration exercise of IDPs and door-to-door distribution exercise to ensure that the affected families get the relief materials.
Members of the Presidential Committee on North East Initiative, led by Rear Admiral A. Z. Gambo, inspected the food distribution exercise at various camps in Banki, Bama, Maiduguri and other liberated areas.
Follow The Eagle Online Channel on WhatsApp
