All Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, camps in Adamawa State will be closed by January 2017, said Deputy Governor, Martins Babale.

Babale disclosed this while briefing journalists on the outcome of the State Security Council meeting which held in Yola the State Capital on Wednesday.

He stressed that the administration will do all in its power to ensure that the all occupants of the various camps will have returned to their homes by the end of January next year.

“We will take steps, including encouraging them to settle in villages; we will collaborate with all stakeholders to make sure that between now andJanuary 30th, everyone has left the camps,” the deputy governor said.

Babale, who also doubles as the Chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency, maintained that all the areas of the state affected by the Boko Haram insurgency had been recovered by troops of the Nigerian military and are safe for the people to return to their homes.

He added that the continuous stay of IDPs in the camps was not good publicity for the state.

Commissioner for Information and Strategy in the state, Ahmad Sajoh, said that the council also resolved to roll out a massive enlightenment campaign in order to educate the public on the need to remain vigilant and be on the alert to report insurgents fleeing from Sambisa Forest.

Sajoh pointed out that the state was aware of the capture of boko haram suspects in Lagos and Abuja and hence it does not want to take any chances.

The commissioner added that the state government would collaborate with organisations like the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, in tracking such fleeing insurgents.