The various camps established for Internally Displaced Persons in Kaduna, Kano and Zamfara States, have been closed down following the reunion of the inmates with their families.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that more than 2,000 IDPs affected by Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East, were in the various camps at different times.
In Kano, Alhaji Ali Bashir, the Executive Secretary of the state Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation Agency, said the temporary camp established in Dawakin Kudu Local Government area of the state, was closed down in January.
He said that the camp was closed after all the IDPs from Mubi in Adamawa, Taraba and Borno, returned to their respective local government areas, or went to stay with their relations.
Bashir however said that the camp was recently reopened for two days when about 518 IDPs were evacuated from Geidam in Yobe, after they returned from Niger Republic.
“They were part of the 6, 000 persons who returned to the country from Niger Republic recently.
“The affected IDPs were kept at the temporary camp in Dawakin Kudu, but have since returned to their respective local government areas of origin, as they stayed for only one or two days,” he said.
According to him, each of the IDPs was given N2, 500 as transport and feeding allowance, in addition to 50 bags of maize donated to them to alleviate their sufferings.
“As I am talking to you now, the camp is closed because all the 518 IDPs from Niger Republic, have returned to their respective homes in 22 local government areas of the state,” Bashir said.
In Zamfara all the 143 IDPs have successfully rejoined their families, according to the Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency, Mr Salisu Kwatarkwashi.
He said that most of the affected persons, comprising women, children and the aged, were evacuated from Niger Republic, through Gaidam in Yobe.
“All the displaced persons that were confirmed to be indigenes of Zamfara, numbering 143, were transported from NEMA camp in Sokoto, after which we took them to their respective emirate councils.
“At this moment, all the 143 persons have been re-integrated into their communities of origin, and we have not received any complaint since their resettlement,” he said.
He said his office had screened the IDPs health and mental status, and were certified to be in good health condition.
He urged communities where such IDPs were received in the state, not to discriminate against the returnees.
In Kaduna, there was no official camp for IDPs from the conflict in the Northeast, but the state government had set up various camps for those displaced by conflicts within the state.
More than 23, 890 people were affected by communal clashes since 2014 in Kaura, Kachia and Sanga Local Government areas of the state, all of whom had been rehabilitated and allowed to return to their homes.
The spokesman of the state Emergency Management Agency, Abubakar Zakari-Adamu, said presently, there was no IDPs camp anywhere in the state.
Meanwhile, the Kaduna Zonal office of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), also said it had no IDP camp in the states under it.
It would be recalled that in January this year, the agency’s Zonal Coordinator, Malam Musa Ilallah, had said that they had catered for 44, 398 IDPs, who were mostly displaced due to communal clashes and attacks by unknown gunmen.
He said that the IDPs were from Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina and a few from the North East, who settled in Jigawa, Kano and Kaduna States.
Ilallah said 20, 508 of the IDPs were victims of attacks by gunmen in Zamfara, Katsina and Kaduna, while 23, 890 people were displaced by communal clashes in Kaura, Kachia and Sanga Local Government areas of Kaduna state.
He said thousands of others were dispersed by persistent attacks in Sanga Gocal Government area, where NEMA had set up seven camps to support those affected.
According to him, 10 bomb blasts were recorded in 2014 during which 248 persons died and 435 others were injured.
He said eight of the bomb blasts and suicide attacks, were recorded in Kano city while two occurred in Kaduna.
Ilallah said the total number of those killed during the period as a result of bomb blasts, communal clashes and attacks by gunmen in the three states, was 945.
The NEMA coordinator disclosed that 7, 692 households were affected by the attacks, which left many houses, shops and schools, destroyed.
He said that NEMA had provided assistance to all the victims, and would continue to render vital emergency services to victims of disasters at all times.
In Kebbi, the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) established a temporary camp to resettle about 513 Internally Displaced Persons that came from Karanga town in Niger Republic.
Alhaji Cindo Jega, the Director of the agency, said in Birnin Kebbi that the displaced persons, most of them fishermen resident in Karanga and victims of insurgent attack, were hosted at a camp for few days, and reunited with their relations in the state.
In another development, a transit camp established in Giedam town of Yobe for displaced persons relocated from Niger Republic had also been closed.
Air Commodore Charles Otegbade, Director Search and Rescue, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said about 11,000 Nigerians relocated from Islands on Lake Chad, had returned to Nigeria, through Giedam.
“The returnees are indigenes of Taraba, Benue, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, Adamawa, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi and Borno states.
“Some of them were fishermen who had settled on the islands, while others were displaced persons who fled their communities from Boko Haram, and were taking refuge on the Islands,” he said
According to him, the Nigerien authorities relocated the people from the Islands, to pave way for military operations against insurgents in the area.
He said that NEMA, along with security operatives, profiled the returnees and subsequently transported them to their states and other areas of choice. (NAN)
