Kebbi Government on Monday evacuated no fewer than 1, 600 indigines of the state back home, from the Internally Displaced Persons camp in Sokoto.
The affected persons were evacuated by the National Emergency Management Agency from Geidam in Yobe on May 7, and camped at Kalambaina Rehabilitation Centre in Sokoto.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the inmates were part of the 2,000 IDPs brought to the camp by NEMA.
The Executive Director of the State Emergency Management Agency, Mr Chindo Jega told newsmen in Sokoto that the IDPs would undergo security screening before their reintegration.
“We have provided adequate vehicles to evacuate all of them down to Birnin Kebbi where another camp had since been set up for them at the Hajj camp.
“They will undergo security screening there, while their medical conditions will be ascertained by a team of medical personnel already mobilised to the camp.
“From there, they will be taken to their various local governments where they will eventually be handed over to the officials of their respective local governments and traditional rulers,” Jega said.
The director also said adequate arrangements had been made by the state government to provide feeding and other essential needs for the IDPs.
According to him, the government would assist them with money to re-start their businesses.
Mr Musa Garba, a member of the five-man committee and an Assistant Commissioner of Police, said the IDPs would be screened before being handed over to their families.
“We had mobilized the police, military, SSS, NSCDC and other relevant stakeholders with a view to ensuring their safety and comfort,” Garba stated.
NEMA’s Assistant Head, Sokoto Zonal Operations Office, Mr Thickman Tanimu said the less than 300 IDPs now at the camp were from Sokoto and Zamfara States.
“We are expecting many of them from Geidam, hence, the camp would remain open to receive them and hand them over to their respective state governments.”
He commended NEMA’s Director-General, Sani Sidi and Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State, for their support in sustaining the camp.
One of the IDPs, Mrs Fati Abbas, who delivered a baby on their way to Sokoto from Yobe, expressed appreciation to the Kebbi government for its support to them.
Another IDP, Mohammed Nasiru appealed to the Kebbi government to fulfill its pledge of providing financial support to them, to re-start their businesses.
NAN reports that health personnel from Wamakko Local Government were at the camp administering polio vaccines to children aged 0- 59 months.
Similarly, officials from UNICEF, WHO, Medicins Sans Frontiers, Nigerian Red Cross, Nigerian Medical Association and security personnel were at the camp assisting the inmates.
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