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Nigerian refugees in Chad, Cameroon, Niger now 339,669 —UN agency
In light of the increased insecurity in different parts of the country, a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has shown that Nigeria now has a total of 339,669 refugees in Chad, Cameroon and Niger Republic.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, had in September 2021 said the number was 322,000, showing an increase of about 17,000.
However, according to the information published by UNHCR on ‘Nigerian refugees by country asylum’ as of November 30, 2022, the number of Nigerians taking refuge in Niger Republic had ballooned into 187,130, 132,151 in Cameroon and 20,388 in Chad.
This worrisome situation was not unconnected to the killings and kidnappings across the country which had rendered scores of people displaced.
This report was despite the promise by the Nigerian government to immediately prioritize the safe return of Nigerians displaced by the insurgency in the North-East from Cameroon, Niger and Chad earlier in March.
READ ALSO:FG to evacuate Nigerian refugees in Cameroon, Niger, Chad
President Muhammadu Buhari had in February this year inaugurated a Presidential Committee on the Repatriation, Returns and Resettlement of Displaced Persons.
Speaking at the first meeting of the Committee in March, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo reiterated the urgent repatriation of Nigerians taking refuse in other countries.
“We should immediately do whatever it takes to commence the process of repatriating our people back home. Already there are several initiatives,” Osinbajo said.
In a December 1st 2022 publication tilted “Nigeria: Populations At Risk”, the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect lamented the rising deaths occasioned by insurgency in the country.
The group said the litany of killings orchestrated by bandits and insurgents had displaced scores of people across the country, especially in the Northwest, Northeast and North-Central.
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