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NEMA Flags Off Food Distribution For 46,000 Refugees

The National Emergency Management Agency says at least 46,000 refugees dislodged from their hometowns around Borno State have now returned to Banki border town. NEMA’s … Continue reading NEMA Flags Off Food Distribution For 46,000 Refugees


NEMA, House of Representatives, LawmakersThe National Emergency Management Agency says at least 46,000 refugees dislodged from their hometowns around Borno State have now returned to Banki border town.

NEMA’s Director General, Mustapha Maihaja said the returnees had fled to Chad, Niger and Cameroun in the face of the insurgency.

“Currently we have around 46,000 IDPS but they are coming in day by day sometimes in small numbers sometimes in big numbers. In the last four weeks, a group of about 2,500 arrived here but some were taken to their various states of origin,” he said.

Banki which used to be a bubbling commercial border town is now the converging point for the returnees.

Read Also: Three Killed As Suicide Bombers Strike In Borno IDP Camps

As a result, NEMA has commenced distribution of relief materials, food and non-food items to them.

“The government is aware that having secured the Borno area, the people that are residing in Niger, Chad and also Cameroun have started to come in so the needs and requirements for these people in terms of food and shelter grows and that is why we are here today,” Maihaja further stated.

The NEMA boss, however, noted that “the major challenge is not knowing when they are coming and how they are coming so sometimes it’s hard to meet up with their needs.

“We now decided to start stockpiling so that when they come we give them,” he added.

The agency says it has taken delivery of about 40,905 metric tonnes of assorted grains and some other non-food items been for onward distribution in the northeast.