President Muhammadu Buhari declared yesterday in Abuja that the return of persons displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency to their home communities will begin early next year.
Speaking when he hosted a delegation from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) led by former British foreign minister, Mr David Miliband, President Buhari said that his administration would do all within its powers to facilitate the quick return and resettlement of over two million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in their towns and villages.
According to a statement issued by his senior special assistant, Media, Malam Garba Shehu, the president told Mr Miliband and his delegation that the federal government would welcome the support of the IRC and other local and international non-governmental organisations in the rehabilitation of IDPs.
“In 2016, the return of the IDPs will start in earnest. They will return to their communities to meet destroyed schools and other infrastructure which have to be rebuilt.
“With agriculture being moribund in the region in the last two years without cropping, hunger is already manifest. We will welcome all the help we can get to assist the returnees, “ President Buhari said.
Responding to a request by Mr Miliband on the federal government’s priorities as to the nature of assistance required for the IDPs, the president said that there was an urgent need for support in the areas of agricultural inputs, health, nutrition, water and sanitation.
President Buhari urged the IRC and other international agencies to work with the Presidential Committee on the North-East and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) which, he said, were already doing a lot to cater for the IDPs and restore some basic infrastructure in communities affected by terrorism and insurgency.
Mr Miliband assured President Buhari that the IRC would intensify its ongoing work in Nigeria where it has assisted over 350,000 displaced persons, mainly in Adamawa and Borno states.
He called for an increased security presence in recovered towns and territories, saying that most prospective returnees still feared for their safety on their return home.
Insurgency: UN Launches $1.98bn Humanitarian Appeal Fund
The United Nation Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has launched $1.98 billion humanitarian appeal for vital assistance to millions of people in Africa’s Sahel region in 2016.
Assistant secretary-general and regional humanitarian coordinator for the Sahel, Toby Lanzer, in a statement said that the UN aid agency needed the support of the international community to ensure that millions get the most basic assistance and protection they deserve.
Mr Lanzer observed that mounting humanitarian need is the most visible symptom of the triple crisis of poverty, insecurity and climate change that plague the Sahel region.
The OCHA estimates indicate that in 2016, nearly 23.5 million people will not have enough to eat, of which at least six million will require emergency food assistance, and about 5.9 million children under five years of age will be threatened by acute malnutrition.
Speaking on Boko Haram attacks in the Lake Chad Basin, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), one of the organisations providing assistance to the displaced in North-East, Jan Egeland, noted that the world had not recognized the scale of the crisis in the region.
Boko Haram: 18,000 Refugees Repatriated From Cameroon – NEMA
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has revealed that the Cameroonian government has repatriated over 18,000 refugees to Nigeria, with more still being expected from the country.
Thousands of Nigerian refugees fled to Cameroon’s Far North region to escape incessant Boko Haram attacks on civilians in the north-east.
NEMA’s planning officer in Adamawa State, Alhaji Sa’adu Bello, told the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that Cameroonian authorities had begun since August this year to return Nigerians who fled to the country for safety.
The Cameroonian authorities had earlier said that the refugees came from villages caught in the fighting along the border and that more continued to cross into the extremely volatile border zones.
The conflict in north-east has also forced some 18,000 people to flee to western Chad, including more than 15,000 since early January after major attacks in Borno State.
Meanwhile, Niger Republic, in its bid to rid its prisons of the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents, has agreed to transfer about 500 inmates who belong to the sect back to Nigeria.
A magistrate who craved anonymity told Reuters news agency that “Nigeria sent a working group here (to Niger) last week and the two sides have established an initial list of 500 detainees who will soon be transferred to Nigeria.”
The exact time when the prisoners, who are in detention centres of Kollo, Diffa and Koutoukale, would be transferred is still unknown.
Both countries form part of an 8,700-strong regional taskforce dedicated to destroying a terror group that has killed thousands of people and displaced millions in its push to create an Islamic caliphate in the region.
Arms Procurement Funds Diversion, Abuse Of Trust – PMB
…As Dogara Leads House of Reps Members To Presidential Dinner
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday night described the diversion of funds meant for arms procurement to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East as a breach of trust.
Speaking while hosting members of the House of Representatives to a dinner at the presidential villa, Abuja, he noted that the Goodluck Jonathan administration spent good money for the procurement of arms and ammunition to prosecute the war against insurgency but that the process was abused at various levels.
He said his administration could not turn a blind eye to the abuse, hence its decision to investigate the matter with the hope of recouping diverted funds.
“But unfortunately for us as a people, we uncovered that billions of Naira and hundreds of millions of dollars were expended by the previous government to acquire good equipment and ammunition so that the military can use, but, unfortunately, there was abuse of trust at various levels and it cost Nigeria a lot of lives and goodwill.
“So we cannot keep quiet about and it is coming out gradually. It is very unfortunate. It is a known fact that Nigeria earned its respect from Burma to Zaire to Liberia to Sierra Leone. But it reached a stage where the Nigerian military could not secure 14 local governments out of 774 local governments.
But we are doing our best and I hope our best will be good enough. “He, however, acknowledged that terrorism was a worldwide phenomenon, saying, “If the terrorists can kill 150 people in an advanced country, who is Nigeria?”
He asserted that people who can kill people in churches and mosques do not know God.
He sought the support and understanding of the members of the House to secure the country and manage it efficiently.
He said : “I decided to host this dinner to thank you so far. We still have a long way to go. There are a lot of Rubicons to be crossed, but let’s be very clear about our objectives – our objective is that we first secure the country and efficiently manage it because we are all in government.
“In fact, we are the government – you, the executive and the judiciary – so nobody should contemplate alienating one another. We have already set our priorities right during our campaigns, to secure the country then efficiently manage it.
“Securing the country is to obviously deal decisively with Boko Haram. When we came in, the military leadership had to be removed and reconstituted, and a new set put in place with a clear target to reorganize, retrain, reequip and make sure that Boko Haram is uprooted and neutralized. “
“Let us make up our minds that whatever we are doing, we are doing it for this country. Let us secure the country first. Let’s us efficiently manage the country. That was why I was up and down to Niger, Chad, Cameroon Benin, and Germany to meet leaders of G7; to meet with the leaders all aimed at trying to meet the international community to put our case forward which is very well known. We have a problem, but we are very lucky in the fact that the intention of the terrorists is to divide the country. I think they have misfired.”
Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, who spoke on behalf of the members, warned that disagreements might come between the president and the House but he assured Buhari that he would enjoy the support of the parliament.
Dogara expressed confidence in the ability to president to meet the expectation of the nation.
“Nobody can look into the eye of the president and vice president and doubt their commitment to rid the nation of corruption. If we don’t get it right in these four years, those of us here should forget it.
“We sincerely believe we should lay the foundation of a lasting legacy for generations to come,” he said.
PMB, Service Chiefs Meet Behind Closed Doors
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday met behind closed-doors with the service chiefs at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa.
LEADERSHIP recalls that president had given the service chiefs December deadline to end the Boko Haram insurgency.
Checks reveal that the meeting might not be unconnected with the ongoing fight against the insurgents in the north east part of the country.
Boko Haram: US calls for Viable Military Action
The United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Amb. Samantha Power, yesterday said that Nigeria urgently needed a viable military action to end activities of Boko Haram. The African Media Hub of the U.S. Department of State in a statement said that Power also called for a regional strategy to disrupt Boko Haram’s hideouts, weapons’ flow and means of recruitment.
“The repeated attacks by Boko Haram, which have killed 27 in the Lake Chad region, require viable military action and a wider regional strategy to disrupt their safe havens, weapons flow and recruitment. “It’s also essential that the socio-economic conditions areas being exploited by Boko Haram be addressed and that their dire humanitarian conditions be addressed as well,’’ it said.
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