Another 18,142 IDP head home as Borno Government Closes Teachers Village Camp
Borno State government had on Saturday January 15, 2023 officially closed the Teachers Village Camp as 18, 142 internally displaced persons (IDPs) that lived there finally return to their reclaimed homes.
The IDPs who were displaced from Ngala and Kukawa local government areas of Borno had lived in the camp for over seven years now.
The Borno state Commissioner of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Bukar Talba, jointly leads the state Camp Closure Committee alongside the Commissioner of Reconstruction Rehabilitation and Resettlement (MRRR), Mustapha Gubio, announced the closure after the last batch of IDPs had departed the camp.
Borno state governor, Babagana Zulum had last year declared that all camps in Maiduguri, the state capital would be shut down by end of December 2021. A deadline that was not met due to the enormity of the exercise.
Ahead of the closure of the camp, the CCC carrier out the distribution of cash and food items to a total of 4,192 households in line with the directives of Governor Zulum who insisted that returnees should be supported with food and non-food items as resettlement kits.
The RRR Commissioner, Mr Gubio had explained all the IDPs had voluntarily agreed to return to the camp.
“We have respected the international standards that specified “voluntary return of IDPs in a safe and dignified manner,” he said.
‘We have so far returned IDPs to Baga, Banki, Marte, kawuri and other communities since last year. And some of them who returned before the rainy season have farmed and harvested their products, and that development had encouraged other IDPs to indicate their desire to return home as well.
Director-General of Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Yabawa Kolo, whose agency handles the practical application of the IDPs said about 120,000 households have so far been relocated to their ancestral homes since the beginning of camp closure last year.
