85 per cent of IDPs return home in Yobe – Official

The Yobe State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, says about 85 per cent of Internally Displaced Persons, (IDPs, who fled their communities in Gujba Local Government Area, following Boko Haram insurgency had returned.

The Permanent Secretary, Musa Jidawa, disclosed this on Tuesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Damaturu.

He said in Gulani Local Government Area, over 98 per cent of the displaced persons have returned to their communities.

Mr. Jidawa said except for some IDPs, who settled around host communities, the state now has only one IDP camp at Pompomari after the closure of Bukar Ali camp both in Damaturu.

“The returnee communities have been engaged in agricultural activities to rebuild their economic lives while, humanitarian partners now deliver assistance to the IDPs in their ancestral homes” he said.

According to him, adequate measures have been adopted by the state committee on resettlement and rehabilitation of IDPs to ensure that goods and services are delivered to the doorstep of displaced persons.

“The committee chaired by the state Deputy-Governor, Abubakar Aliyu, with commissioners drawn from line ministries as members, had engaged efficient monitoring strategy to ensure delivery of all assistance to the targeted beneficiaries.

“I can proudly say that in Yobe, we have no cases of diversion of relief materials provided for displaced persons,” he assured.

He said the Yobe government and humanitarian agencies have agreed to implement resolutions of the retreat organised by the state government which regulates and coordinates areas and places of intervention.

“This makes us to see ourselves as partners and not competitors, and also takes care of duplication and overlapping of support and intervention in the various communities,” he said.

(NAN)