The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, has said that due to success recorded in the war against Boko Haram insurgency and the return of refugees from neighbouring countries, the humanitarian services rendered to internally displaced persons will henceforth focus on the “rehabilitation, reconstruction and recovery of the affected persons and communities.”

A statement by Sani Datti, NEMA spokesperson, said that director general of NEMA, Sani Sidi, made this development known at the African Union Regional Consultative meeting for West Africa towards the creation of a common stand on the World Humanitarian Summit, which held in Abuja at the weekend.

“He (Sidi) said the agency in collaboration with State Emergency Management Agencies with the support of the UN System has undertaken damage and loss assessment of the affected communities in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa state and has made submission to the government for appropriate intervention by line Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs),” the statement read, adding that the humanitarian crisis caused by the insurgency has affected adjoining states of Gombe, Bauchi, Plateau, and Taraba and the neighbouring countries of Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

According to Datti, the NEMA boss said there were about 57, 743 Nigerian refugees in these countries, with more than 40, 000 in Cameroon, 15, 000 in Niger and more than 2, 000 in Chad. The NEMA boss decried the forceful deportation of Nigerians by Cameroonian authorities while the United Nations High Commission for Refugees did nothing.

‘“I expressed my concern to UNHCR when Nigerian delegation went to Chad, Niger and Cameroun for assessment of the condition of Nigerian Refugees which was misconstrued as forceful evacuation by UNHCR”’, Datti quoted Sidi.