3000 IDPs left in camp — Yobe govt

The Yobe State government says it has only a little over 3000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) left in the remaining camp in the state.

The Deputy Governor of the state who is also the chairman of state Committee on Reconstruction, Resettlement and Rehabilitation of IDPs, Abubakar Ali, disclosed this while speaking with Daily Trust after a meeting with the Executive Director, Victims Support Fund (VSF), Sunday Ochoche in Abuja yesterday.

“In Yobe, we had only two camps but we recently closed one of them. We only have one now which has a population of 3000 IDPs”, he said.

“The total number of IDPs in Yobe State is 300, 000. Most of them have settled in host communities but have eventually left as peace has gradually returned to Yobe State”, he added.

He added that those remaining in camp probably came from areas where the military had not given clearance for them to return.

He said the state government had moved from providing basic needs to IDPs to reconstruction and rehabilitation of the victims of insurgency.

“Our idea of reconstruction is to support the people in constructing their homes themselves while we put the infrastructure in place,” he added.

The deputy governor solicited more support from the VSF to actualize the reconstruction plans.

Responding, the VSF Executive Director who noted that the fund had agreed to take up the reconstruction of schools, hospitals and the secretariat in Buni Yadi, pledged his organisation’s continued supports to the state.