By Samuel Malik

The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, has described as worrisome the continued deportation by Cameroonian authorities of Nigerian refugees who fled their homes as a result of the Boko Haram attacks.

This is against the backdrop reports of the deportation of another batch of 2,500 refugees to Nigeria by Cameroonian authorities this week.

Three weeks ago, Cameroon sent 670 refugees back to the country against their wish and with 2, 500 more persons reportedly on their way to the country through the borders in Adamawa state, NEMA said it is concerned that the displaced people are subjected to more hardship.

“Yesterday we were just called to be told that 2,500 (Nigerian refugees) were heading towards Sauda, a border village in Adamawa State,” Sa’ad Bello, the NEMA camp coordinator in Adamawa State, told journalists in Yola, the state capital on Friday.

The NEMA chief decried the treatment meted to the refugees, who reportedly spent six days on the road to Nigeria.

“People that are traumatised, you are adding more to their problem. The way they were packed into lorries is worrisome and they were not even allowed to come with their belongings,” he lamented.

Bello said the agency had to provide clothing to the people, as most of them came with just the clothes they had on, adding that the issue has been reported to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR.

In another development, the refugees deported three weeks ago from Cameroon are on their way back to their state, Borno, as the state government sent trucks to convey them.

When our reporter visited the camp where they were kept on Friday morning, he saw eight trucks already loaded with the people, including little children, and ready to leave, with loafs of bread and water also being loaded for their feeding.

The convoy of trucks would have to travel through Gombe due to the inaccessibility of the Yola – Maiduguri road as a result of the insurgency and, with the nature of buses and harsh weather, they would certainly spend more than 24 hours on the way.