Cameroonian officials, led by the Minister for Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, have repatriated and handed over the first batch of 5,000 Nigerian refugees to Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum.
The handover took place at a brief ceremony in Amchiide, a border community between Nigeria and Cameroon, close to Banki in the Bama Local Government Area of Borno Central.
The returnees were part of thousands of Nigerians, mostly from Borno, who, since 2014, had fled in batches to Minawao Camp located in Mokolo, far North Region of Cameroon, to escape Boko Haram’s killings.
Many Nigerians, in uncertain numbers, though said to be more than 60,000, fled to the camp from parts of Borno and Adamawa States.
The handover ceremony was attended by top officials from Cameroon, including the governor of the far North Region, Midjiyawa Bakary, and officials of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
The Cameroonian Minister for Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji Paul, announced that President Paul Biya had approved a relief package that included food items, mattresses, blankets, and other non-food items for distribution to all the 5,000 returnees, as support.
The minister commended Governor Zulum for constructing homes where the refugees would be resettled.
Governor Zulum had approved funds and supervised the ongoing construction of over 6,000 urban and low-cost resettlement houses sited in Banki, Gwoza, Konduga, Kaga, and different others, with a substantial number of them already completed.
Zulum, on behalf of Nigeria, thanked the Cameroonian president, other officials, and host communities for taking good care of the Nigerian refugees in the last six years.
The repatriation was to implement the outcome of a tripartite commission meeting held in Marwa, Cameroon, on February 10, 2021, which was attended by officials from Cameroon, the UNHCR, and a Nigerian delegation that comprised Governor Zulum and top officials from federal ministries of Foreign Affairs, Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs as well as Zulum’s Special Adviser on Monitoring and Evaluation, who chairs a technical committee on the repatriation, Engr. Lawan Abba Wakilbe.
A press statement by the Governor’s Spokesman, Isa Gusau, also said, after receiving the refugees, Governor Zulum in Banki town flagged off the presentation of food and non-food items to the 5,000 Nigerian returnees.
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Male heads of families were each given N30,000, while each woman was given N10,000 and a fabric.
Editor Paul Akhagbemhe
