The National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons, has disclosed that at least 6.1 million Nigerians were displaced by insecurity and natural disasters.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the NCFRMI Federal Commissioner, Alhaji Tijjani Aliyu, made this known during a visit to Katsina State Governor, Dikko Radda Friday in the state.
He explained that as at 2022, the commission has about 3 million displaced persons, “but with floods and other natural disasters, we now have an additional 100 per cent of such displaced people.”
He said, “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 for them? Can the government continue to fend them, providing them succour?
“Absolutely not possible; we have to find a way to teach these individuals trades and give them skills so that, at the end of the day, they can be on their own,” he said.
Aliyu stated that the commission’s decision to construct three well-furnished skills acquisition centres across the Northeast from the 2024–2025 budget.
He disclosed that 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 forth 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 about 70 of their mothers were given some small starter packs to improve their living standards,” he said.
The Commissioner noted that, in addition to that, the commission identified a water problem in the IDP camp but immediately intervened by providing a solar-powered borehole.
“We have also built settlement cities in IDP 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 pointed out that the commission equally planned to enrol the IDPs in a health insurance scheme to take care of their health challenges.
In his reaction, Radda lauded the commission’s move, 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 stressed that the state had recently witnessed a lot of security challenges, especially in the eight frontline Local Government councils of the state.
The Governor bemoaned that the worst affected areas were the food basket of the state, adding that most of the communities were displaced.
Radda then said with satisfaction that with the inauguration of Katsina Security Watch Corps, the security situation had improved.
Calling for more synergy with neighbouring states, Radda was confident that, with the recent deployment of additional security operatives by the federal government, criminals would not be given a breathing space.
NAN reported that the federal commissioner later led other officials to flag off the distribution of food items to the IDPs.
