Recently, there have been reports of plan by the Federal Government to evacuate about 1, 934, 765 Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, who are living in formal camps, host communities and satellite camps in the country. The intention is to return them to their respective liberated communities in the North Eastern states of Borno,

Yobe, Taraba, Gombe, Bauchi and Adamawa. Relocation and resettlement programmes are said to be in progress and they have received the Senate’s backing and a financial approval of N10 billion.

While the evacuation arrangements are in top gear, an estimated 80,000 displaced Nigerians taking refuge in the Republic of Cameroon are about to be repatriated to Nigeria. The Federal Government had for the purpose of the voluntary return of the refugees to Nigeria signed a tripartite agreement with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR and the Republic of Cameroon.

Obviously, the 80,000 displaced Nigerians will swell the ranks of those in different camps across the country. But it is unclear if Government has changed its policy to decamp the IDPs. We are concerned because of a statement credited to the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Muhammad Sani Sidi, who said Nigeria has “moved from the emergency response stage to recovery and resettlement of the IDPs”.

We acknowledge that the Federal Government and governments of states affected by the insurgency, the United Nations Organisations, International Non-Governmental Organisations as well as the private sector had done a lot in the last four years to manage the large numbers of Internally Displaced Persons in the North East, more still needs to be done to significantly mitigate the plight of the IDPs.

While we share the NEMA boss’ sentiment and concern for the welfare of the IDPs, we recommend that their safety, and indeed continued protection, should be the basis for any policy change, including whether to decamp them or not. Also, while we have no doubt that the military has significantly degraded the Boko Haram insurgents and liberated most of the communities previously under their occupation, we do not think that these places are safe enough for the IDPs to return to now, especially given the spate of suicide bombings and intermittent attacks recorded in recent times in some of the liberated areas.

There should also be thorough screening of refugees returning from Cameroon and elsewhere to ensure they have not been infiltrated by insurgents from other countries so as not to compound the problem we are trying to solve.