Benue to close some IDP camps as displaced residents return home

Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, has revealed that his administration is considering the closure of some Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps across the state following improvements in the security situation.

Alia disclosed this during a media interaction with the Renewed Hope Ambassadors Presidential Media Team, led by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the team is in Benue to assess completed and ongoing infrastructure projects being executed by the federal and state governments across the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.

According to Alia, interventions by the federal government and improved security measures have restored relative calm in several communities, allowing some displaced residents to return voluntarily and resume farming activities.

The governor explained that the security situation was being assessed continuously through reports from security agencies stationed across the LGAs, traditional rulers and residents who provide information on developments in their communities.

Alia recalled that 15 IDP camps were created in different parts of Benue after violent attacks forced residents from their homes.

He, however, said the changing security situation had begun to encourage the return of displaced persons to their communities.

“We are already making some plans to close down some because the IDP occupants have voluntarily gone back to do their farming,” Alia said.

He added that the state government was partnering with international organisations, including the United Nations and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), to develop lasting solutions to the displacement crisis.

The governor stressed that the objective was not simply to move people back to their communities, only for insecurity to force them into the camps again, but to ensure that adequate conditions were created for their safe and permanent return.

Alia said the reduction in the population of the camps was a positive development, adding that several returnees had gone beyond farming to reconstruct homes destroyed or abandoned during the period of displacement.

He expressed confidence that continued security efforts would allow the returnees to remain in their communities, rebuild their livelihoods and strengthen Benue’s agricultural sector.Chika Onyesi