NEMA: More Fake IDPs Troop to Camps, as NHRC Expresses Concern

Iyobosa Uwugiaren in Abuja 

Amidst several appeals by humanitarian and civil society organisations to the Nigerian government to intervene in the huge challenges facing the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said on Sunday that the major challenge facing the agency in its work -- with respect to the displaced persons, is “knowing who is an IDP and who is not.’’

On its part, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said the security situation in the country had resulted in the displacement of millions of Nigerians, who now take refuge in inhabitable environments with serious threat to their mental and physical existence.

The two federal government’s agencies noted these points after a meeting at the weekend in Abuja to deliberate on the challenges facing the IDPs in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and other parts of the country.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Executive Secretary to the NHRC, Mr. Lambert Oparah, stated yesterday that the meeting was sequel to a letter of urgent national importance by his boss, Professor Bem Angwe, requesting NEMA to intervene in a matter affecting IDPs in the country, especially in Abuja.

According to Oparah, “NEMA Director-General, Muhammadu Sanni, who led the officials from NEMA, disclosed that a major challenge facing the agency in its work with respect to displaced persons is knowing who is an IDP and who is not.

“According to him, many people now troop to camps or find settlements in unoccupied areas in the name of IDPs with intent to get relief materials or attract sympathisers. However, he stressed that NEMA has set up camps in all the conflict areas, which he said have been receiving adequate attention from agency officials.’’

The NEMA’s boss was also quoted as saying that the humanitarian outlook of Nigeria is made more complex by frequent communal clashes, especially between pastoralists and farmers, which has displaced so many Nigerians from their comfort homes.

Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of NHRC has said that security must be balanced with human rights, calling for an urgent need for a stakeholders’ forum to address the IDPs issues in the country.

He said it was in an attempt to address some of the issues arising from IDPs camps that his agency in collaboration with the United Nation High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) deployed 310 monitors in the north-east and north-central parts of the country to observe the human rights situation in those camps.

However, THISDAY gathered last night that a stakeholders’ meeting would be convened on Wednesday in Abuja, to address some of the identified issues.

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