Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum has called for support from the United Nations for over 200,000 refugees from his state who are in neighbouring countries to return home.
The governor urged UNHCR, a UN refugee agency, to support in returning Borno residents taking refuge in neighbouring Cameroon and the Niger Republic.
Zulum made the call on Thursday at a stakeholders’ implementation meeting on the Global Compact of Refugees in Abuja.
The event was organised by the Ministry of Humanitarian and Disaster Management Affairs in collaboration with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
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He noted that most of the refugees have been agitating to return to their communities to pick up the pieces of their lives.
“We need to follow up commitment with action, which is very important. One of the importance of this Global Compact of Refugees is to support citizens of countries of origin for the return of refugees back to their home country,
“I am of the view that we should first look at how we can help to support Nigerians who are taking refuge in another country, especially those who are living in the neighbouring Niger Republic as well as the Republic of Cameroon who have been agitating in the past.
“This is very important because we have over 200,000 from Borno State who are now refugees in countries like Cameroon, Republic of Niger and Chad.
“The government of Borno is willing to support and work with the humanitarian sector to ensure the return of Nigerian refugees in other countries,” Zulum said.
The Governor added that many communities have been resettled in the last couple of months and the state government is not forcing anyone to return but people are going back to their communities voluntarily.
Also at the event, UNHCR country representative to Nigeria, Chansa Kapaya said, the global compact on refugees has four key objectives they are; ease the pressures on host countries; enhance refugee self-reliance; expand access to third-country solutions, and support conditions in countries of origin for return in safety and dignity.
Other speakers at the meeting include the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Hajjia Sadiya Umar Farouq.
The UN country director also said despite Nigeria’s complex humanitarian challenges, the country has been host country to over 61,000 Cameroonian refugees and asylum-seekers in Cross River, Benue and Taraba since 2017.
She added that Nigeria has also hosted about 4,300 urban refugees from the DRC, CAR, Syria, Turkey, Mali, Cote D’Ivoire and others.
