Nigeria has highest number of IDPs – Zoro

The Chairman, House Committee on Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs), Sani Zoro, has confirmed that Nigeria has the highest number of IDPs in the world with over five million internally displaced persons.

Speaking while fielding question during a maiden convocation of Federal University, Dutse, held over the weekend at Dutse, Zoro as of December last year there were over 2.1 million IDPs from the conflict-plagued northeast.

He added that victims of the flood disaster in 2012 led to an increase of over 4.5 million.

“We are also concerned that in the 21 camps where IDPs are located, it is absolutely clear that IDPs are in highly vulnerable conditions, as just last week IDPs were murdered in a fight at Maiduguri camp. The primary responsibility of protecting IDPs anywhere in the world lie with the state.

“Some IDP camps are not well protected and their (IDPs) protection is not guaranteed,” he said.

Zoro maintained further that IDPs’ condition in most of the camps are so bad that everywhere there are complaints by refugees of lack of clean water and an inadequacy and in a lot of cases a total absence of health care facilities.

Zoro said his committee will work to address these problems and ensure that all basic needs are provided in the IDPs camps.

He also rejected the Federal Government’s move to relocate the IDPs to their various villages without adequate security, safety, sustenance arrangements.