(UNHCR), on Thursday, said that the population of Internally
Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North East had risen to 2.2
million.
Speaking in Abuja during the UNHCR 2015 stakeholders’
briefing of the commission’s representation in Nigeria, the
UNHCR Representative to Nigeria, Ms Angele Dikongue-
Atangana gave the statistics, but said that the increase was
not as a result of new displacement.
“The number of IDPs is not really increasing as a result of
new displacement.
“There could be some relatively small new displacement in
the course of combating insurgency and knowing that the
insurgents themselves still remain active, especially in this
hit and run tactic.
“The number is increasing specifically because regaining
control of the territory by the military opened further access
for the humanitarian officials so they can count many more
IDPs, be they old IDPs or very recent ones,” she said.
Dikongue-Atangana disclosed that UNHCR had recorded
success in its 2015 operational activities in Nigeria including
addressing refugee and IDP plights, advocacy on
statelessness, and collaboration with ECOWAS.
According to her, the commission in its action plan
supervised the voluntary repatriation of 452 Cameroonian
refugees back to their country.
She said that plans were already in progress to repatriate
165 others back to their country before the end of the year,
while resettling others to a third country in Europe, and the
U.S.
She said that UNHCR was working closely with relevant
bodies to ensure that IDPs had their basic rights especially
the right to existence, food, shelter, education, security,
amongst other amenities.
She also said that the agency would not relent in its
humanitarian support to Nigeria, urging partners and donor
agencies to assist refugees and displaced persons.
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