Road Map For Rehabilitation Of Yobe IDPs Ready, Says NEMA

THE Director General of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Sani Sidi has said that “modalities and a road map” for the full rehabilitation and resettlement of Boko Haram displaced persons in Yobe State has been completed, noting that the agency was awaiting the military’s clearance for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) to return to their respective communities.

Sidi disclosed this yesterday in Damaturu while distributing relief materials to 4,211 victims of insurgency and flooding at the Pompomari IDP camp.

He said the agency has already commenced work on the modalities towards the full rehabilitation and resettlements of all displaced persons in the state.

His words: “The agency’s road to rehabilitating these displaced persons is geared towards the reconstruction of war devastated areas of Yobe State, particularly Gujba, Geidam and Gulani council areas that were recaptured by troops during military operations in Sambisa and Sasawa forests.”

He, however, noted that such rehabilitation and reconstruction programmes would not commence until the military gives clearance for the IDPs to return to their respective communities.

“The Buhari-led administration has already constituted a high-powered Presidential Committee charged with the responsibility of identifying all the destroyed communities and their immediate needs for urgent
attention as soon as the military certify safety in the war devastated areas,” Sidi added.

The committee, according to him, will also work out ways of restoring the means of livelihood of IDPs so that they could contribute to nation building after returning to their communities.

Sidi commended the Yobe State government for re-integrating the IDPs into the immediate community instead of opening up conventional camps, which are prone to so many societal vices, including begging for alms in the streets and public places.

While applauding the synergy between NEMA and the Yobe State Emergency Management Agency (YOSEMA), Sidi called on other philanthropists to partner the two agencies, so as to improve the living conditions of the IDPs in their camps.