Nigeria host to 3.2m displaced persons – UN

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said there are currently 3.2 million displaced persons in Nigeria.

John McKissick, the UNHCR deputy representative in Nigeria, disclosed this while speaking after a road walk in Abuja at the weekend to mark the 2022 World Refugee Day.

He said the 3.2 million displaced persons included some 82,000 refugees, adding that the sum total represented a 9 per cent increase from last year.

“The refugees in Nigeria come from 34 different countries with 94 per cent of them being Cameroonians.

“They are generously hosted in 25 different states in Nigeria and able to access schools, primary health care facilities, vocational and other livelihood opportunities in the communities where they have settled,” he said.

He also said there were over 100million persons displaced the world over, adding that the theme for this year’s celebration: The right to seek safety, was apt.

McKissick said the idea was that all refugees should be allowed to seek safety no matter who they are and where they are from.

He said the UNHCR Nigeria was joining the road walk to educate people on the fundamental right of persons fleeing conflict or persecution to seek safety.

A commissioner in the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, said Nigerians had been accommodative of refugees over the years and charged them to keep up the good deeds.

She said there was a pilot health programme in place for refugees already, promising that the federal government would soon expand the programme to capture more refugees in Nigeria.