Jakana Residents To Return Home After Evacuation

 

The residents of Jakana, a town in Borno State are preparing to return home, three days after they were evacuated by the military.

An official of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Abdulkadir Ibrahim, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday.

Thousands of residents in Jakana, including children, women, and men, were relocated by troops on Monday evening to the Bakassi Internally Displaced People (IDP) camp in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

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The Nigerian Army explained that evacuation was for security reasons and to avoid collateral damage ahead of planned operations in the area.

Days after the residents were relocated, Ibrahim, an information officer with NEMA, disclosed that the army and camp management officials at Bakassi IDP camp were preparing to relocate the people back to their town.

According to him, the relocation of the evacuated people is necessary following the conclusion of military operations to flush out Boko Haram insurgents in the area.

The NEMA official explained that the exercise would commence with the evacuation of women, children, and the other vulnerable groups, before the men.

He added that food and non-food items were being mobilised by NEMA for distribution in Jakana town, to reduce the effect of the disruption of economic activities as a result of the evacuation.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has raised concern that up to 10,000 women, men and children in Jakana were in urgent need of food and shelter among other humanitarian assistance.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Edward Kallon, therefore, called on the Nigerian Government to ensure the people get the support they needed.

He also asked the government to protect the Jakana residents who he said were forced to relocate to Maiduguri

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