The Senate passed a resolution mandating its Committee on Appropriation to allocate N10bn under the service wide votes for the relocation and resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, returning home in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states yesterday.
The lawmakers also appealed to the Federal Government to release grains from the strategic grain reserves to the affected states.
The legislators in addition, ased the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, and Nigerian Refugees’ Commission, NRC, to make special arrangement for the repatriation and resettlement of Nigerians in Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
The lawmakers directed its appropriate committees to write letters of appreciation to the embassies of host countries where the refugees are accommodated, as well as urged the Victim Support Fund to allocate a very good amount of money for the immediate relocation and resettlement of the IDPs in the short and medium terms.
According to the Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, who sponsored the motion on the IDPs, said the decisions became necessary because the displaced had lost all they had, including properties and vehicles before seeking refuge in the camps, adding that only concrete plans to resettle them could provide concrete relief.
