Brigitte Mukanga-Eno, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’s Deputy Representative on Protection, on Monday said Internally Displaced Persons had the right to live anywhere in Nigeria.
Mukanga-Eno told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos that since the situation in the North East had forced them from their communities, they could move to safer communities.
She said: “The situation in the North East due to activities of Boko Haram has resulted in about 2.2 million Internally Displaced Nigerians.
“We need to know that these internally displaced persons are in vulnerable situation and do need support to survive.
“So, these internally displaced persons have the right to live in any part of Nigeria, because they are also Nigerians.
“We need to know that these IDPs are also citizens of Nigeria and have the right to move to and settle wherever in Nigeria they wish to settle.”
The UNHCR official said about 15,000 displaced persons had relocated from camps in the North East to Abuja, while some others had moved to the South West for survival.
She said many of the IDPs were already leaving their camps voluntarily in search of means of livelihood and support, from their friends and family members.
Mukanga-Eno, who added that most of the IDPs that were still in the camps because they had no means of livelihood outside the camps, said they urgently needed more support.
She said UNHCR and other UN agencies were working with the National Emergency Management Agency, the National Commission for Refugees and the National Human Rights Commission in providing the IDPs with support.
NAN.
Trending
- Alleged illegal demolition of family building: Octogenarian leads protest to Lagos Assembly
- Court remands cleric for alleged rape
- Edo 2024: Court strikes out suits seeking to nullify Ighodalo’s PDP candidacy
- Ikenga calls for collaboration to create sustainable funding for varsity development
- Why I have not taken loan to develop Osun – Adeleke
- Rivers: Navy rescues 250 passengers onboard capsized boat
- Alleged cruelty to minor: Court fixes date for adoption of final addresses
- Nigeria’s VAT collection lowest in Africa – Speaker Abbas