Borno relocates displaced persons to hometowns

The Borno State Emergency Management Agency said it had concluded arrangements with the National Emergency Management Agency to relocate some Internally Displaced Persons from Maiduguri to their hometowns. The Chairman of BOSEMA, Alhaji Ahmed Satomi, disclosed this on Friday when he visited Alhaji Mohammed Kanar, the Zonal Coordinator, NEMA, in Maiduguri. He said arrangements had been concluded for the building of IDPs camps in Bama, Monguno, Dikwa, Konduga and Damboa. According to him, these IDPs locations will ease the relocation of the displaced persons from already overpopulated Maiduguri. He explained that the state government was ready to work with the Federal Government, particularly NEMA, to ensure that facilities like schools in Maiduguri, currently accommodating IDPs, were freed in order to revert them to their original purpose. Satomi said he was in NEMA office to seek areas of further assistance to the displaced persons, adding that the Federal Government, especially NEMA, had rendered tremendous help to the state to take care of the Boko Haram’s victims. He restated the state government’s commitment to get students back to school “as soon as possible”, saying this had informed the decision of the government to relocate the IDPs from some of the schools that were serving as camps for the displaced persons. He, however, said the relocation of all the IDPs in Maiduguri back to their hometowns would depend on the advice of the military. Satomi added that some towns had already been cleared for displaced persons to move back.