The United Nations has asked the Nigerian government to put in place a comprehensive and coordinated approach in addressing the problems of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, Professor Beyani Chaloka, says the government must also put together, a policy on Internally Displaced Persons.
Professor Chaloka made the call at a meeting with members of the House of Representatives Committee on IDPs and Northeast Initiative on Tuesday in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
In his response, the Chairman of the House Committee, Representative Mohammed Zorro, told the UN official that they had visited some of the IDPs’ camps in the northeast.
A member of the committee who is from Yobe State, Ismaila Gadaka, also said that they had identified the factors which led to the problems at the camps.
In Need Of Food Aid
The Federal Government had put together several interventions to address the horrifying plight of the IDPs in Nigeria, but the situation has been worsened by the diversion of food and relief materials provided by government for IDPs.
The situation had prompted Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, to call for a probe.
The United Nations puts the number of Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria at 2.2 million.
According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2.152 million people are displaced in Nigeria mostly from conflict in the northeast.
On August 19, the United Nations warned that Nigeria’s economic slowdown, compounded by Boko Haram attacks, could mean 5.5 million people are in need of food aid in the northeast region by September.
According to the U.N. refugee agency, the successes of the Nigerian military against the militants has exposed catastrophic levels of suffering and a vast regional crisis.
It expressed worries that many of the persons affected by the over six years of insurgency had been out of reach of humanitarian help for months or years.
