- By Femi Alabi
The National Commission for Refugees Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), has said that over 6.1 million Nigerians were displaced by insecurity and natural disasters.
The NCFRMI Federal Commissioner, Tijjani Aliyu, disclosed this during a visit to the Governor of Katsina State , Dikko Radda on Friday in Katsina.
According to him, as at 2022, the commission has about 3 million displaced persons, “but with floods and other natural disasters, we now have additional 100 per cent of such displaced people.”
He explained that: “Today, I can authoritatively say that we have not less than 6.1 million Nigerians displaced out of their homes.
“What do we do if all of them cannot go back, how do we fend them? Can the government continue to feed them, providing them soccur?
“Absolutely not possible, we have to find a way to teach these individuals trades, give them skills, so that at the end of the day, they can be on their own,” he said.
He stated that the commission intends to construct three well-furnished skills acquisition centres across the Northeast, from the 2024/2025 budget.
Aliyu said the essence of the visit was to distribute food items to about 700 displaced people in the state.
“Before today, the commission has been putting its efforts to ensure that these people were not left in an undignified way. Their children have received educational training funds from us.
“About 120 of them were trained, and also about 70 of their mothers were given some small starter packs to improve their living standard,” he said.
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Aliyu said, in addition to that, the commission identified the problem of water in the IDP camps but immediately intervened by providing a solar-powered borehole.
“We have also built settlement cities in IDPs camp located areas, for those who may not want to go back to their ancestral homes, and Katsina is one of the beneficiaries,” he said.
The NCFRMI boss said the commission also intended to enrol the IDPs in a health insurance scheme to take care of their health challenges.
Responding, Governor Radda commended the commission’s gesture, describing it as a collective responsibility of both the state and the federal government to ensure the welfare and well-being of the IDPs.
He said the state had recently witnessed a lot of security challenges, especially in eight frontline local government councils of the state.
The governor lamented that the worst affected areas were the food basket of the state, adding that most of the communities were displaced.
Radda, however, noted with satisfaction that with the inauguration of the Katsina Security Watch Corps (SWC), the security situation had improved.
While pleading for more collaboration with neighbouring states, the governor expressed optimism that with the recent deployment of additional security operatives by the federal government, criminals would not be given breathing space.