The United Nations (UN) has advised the federal and state governments that it is too early to send Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) back to their communities over safety concerns.

The Regional Representative for West Africa for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Liz Kpam Ahua, spoke on this at a three-day Regional Protection Dialogue on the Lake Chad Basin.

Despite the reassurance from the Nigerian government, the UN representative noted that although Boko Haram has been pushed back and are not occupying any local government, new attacks and unexplored (IEDs) from the sect may still pose a threat to the returned IDPs.

“I have the honor on behalf of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as well as the agencies that are here assembled from various countries within and outside of the region to express our sincere thanks to the government of the federal republic of Nigeria for hosting and making this event possible.”

“Permit also to join my voice to the ministry of Interior to welcome delegates drawn from headquarters and various councils of operations to Nigeria for this very important function. The Regional Protection Dialogue on the Lake Chad Basin within the context of the High Commissioners’ work for the protection of refugees, assistance to IDPs and other persons of concern is the first of its kind in this region, coming at a very critical time.”

“The Lake Chad Basin today faces a fundamental protection crisis in Nigeria and across the neighboring states. The Boko Haram insurgency and the spill over in Cameroon, Niger and Chad has led the loss of thousands of lives and massive displacement of over 2.7 million people in the region and affected the lives over 20 million persons in the countries.”

“Even as at today, it is feared that another 50,000 persons have been dislocated from their homes in a town in Niger following an attack that took place on that town on Friday June 3. The numbers in Niger will certainly swell to 180,000 IDPs while Cameroon and Chad are reported to be hosting over 160,000 and 54,000 IDPs respectively.”

“It is important to note that around 60 per cent of the affected population is children and we insist on that. Among these affected children we have 20,000 unaccompanied. Many of them are living in areas where the humanitarian and civilian government actors have limited access to help them because of insecurity.”

“However, these have not fully degraded the capacity for the harassment, the maiming and killing of the defenseless civilians. Consequently, conditions of live in the northeast are not yet fully conducive for the return of Nigerian refugees and IDPs particularly in Borno State.”

“We note that there are returns that are taking place even as we talk today, but I will simply would want to underscore that the conditions are not fully ripe yet because we still have persistent threats from Boko Haram, presence of mines, unexploded Improvised devices as well as absence of some basic services. All of these put acute humanitarian and protection risks for the populations affected. We have visited these areas and we know precisely of what we are saying.”

Mazi Emeka