Over 850,000 displaced Nigerians living in relief camps -NEMA

The National Emergency Management Agency says there are over 850,000 internally displaced Nigerians living in 31 relief camps across the country.

The agency further noted that majority of the displaced persons were victims of terrorism from the North-East.

The coordinator, North-Central zone of the agency, Mr. Abdulsalam Mohammed, said this during an interview with journalists at a retreat for members of the House of Representatives Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness in Lagos on Thursday.

He said, “It is difficult to know the number of displaced persons in the country because some are in the camps while some are living in host communities. So, giving the accurate figure will be hard but those in the camps across the country are over 850,000 in 31 camps and 20 out of these camps are from the North-East. These statistics were gathered two days ago.

“As I talk to you, my Director General is in Adamawa State. We are mopping up displaced persons from several states because they (displaced persons) fled to other neighboring states from the North-East. They are in Kano, Kaduna, Abuja, Plateau and Nasarawa. So, we are putting them in all those established camps to ascertain their number and give them the appropriate care that they require as citizens.”

When asked if there were plans for the displaced persons to be re-integrated into society, Mohammed said the insecurity in the North-East had made it almost impossible to let the displaced persons go back to their original homes.

He also noted that some of the displaced persons who were not comfortable in the camps had fled.