This is as a result of sustained attacks by dreaded members of Boko Haram sect in the last six years which had claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions of people from their homes.
This was disclosed yesterday by the Minister Deputy Head of Delegation of European Union to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr. Richard Young and Minister Counsellor, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mrs. Regine Hess at a summit which took place at the Government House, Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
Mr. Young said, out of 2.2 million IDPs, Borno and Adamawa states records the highest percentages of displaced persons in Nigeria with about 68 per cent and 81 per cent respectively, stressing that this enormous figure of forced displacement make Nigeria, the third country in the world with largest number of IDPs after Syria and Colombia.
He stated that “the scale up of the five-year programme beginning from August 2016 to July 2021 will contribute to the stabilization of North- East Nigeria through strengthening the resilience of local population affected by insurgency, including IDPs, host communities, and returnees.
Specifically, Young added that, the programme is aimed at strenghtening basic service delivery in the area of health, education and social infrastructure to IDPs in formal settlements and to host communities, so as to alleviate extreme poverty, improve quality of life, mitigate the risk of tension and rehabilitate liberated communities to provide longer-term development perspectives.
In her brief remarks, Mrs. Hess, said Borno and Adamawa have been selected based on the North east Nigeria Recovery and Peace Building Assessment (RPBA) by the Nigerian Government, the EU, World Bank and UN2, which was recently concluded and to which this proposed action is fully aligned. She pointed out that based on the RPBA assessment, the IDPs population of Borno State is estimated at 1,427,999 people, followed by Adamawa with 150,718 as of April 2016.
He, therefore, thanked Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima and his commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Prof. Babagana Umara Zullum for their untiring effort in managing the plight of IDPs in the state.
While declaring the Summit open, Governor Shettima expressed gratitute to Allah, and thanked President Muhammad Buhari, EU and German Government for donating 54.4 Euros to carter for the plight of IDPs in the North East.
Shettima however called on cooperate organizations and well-to-do individuals to donate in cash or kind in support of IDPs in the region. End
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