By Olamide Francis
Federal Government has expressed the readiness to commence the construction of housing projects for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) across the country.
Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons in the Presidency, Senator Basheer Mohammed stated this on Tuesday, while distributing relief materials to thousands of IDPs in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital.
Mohammed, who was represented at the occasion by the Administrative Officer of the commission, Alhaji Sudangi Jubrin, told the IDPs that President Muhammadu Buhari was concerned about their welfare and has directed the commission to provide them with the materials and also commence the housing projects to accommodate them across the country.
“President Buhari has empowered the NCRMI to construct massive houses as resettlements cities for the displaced persons in the country. The project of 600 units of two- bedroom flats with education facility, worship and skills acquisition centres is already ongoing in the pilot states of Borno, Katsina, Zamfara and Edo,” he said.
In his remarks, the Taraba State Commissioner for Special Duties and Humanitarian Affairs, Paniga Binga, commended the commission for the gesture. The commissioner further appealed to the Federal Government to fast-track the return of displaced persons to their homes instead of the continuous donation of relief materials.
According to him, the state has a total of 31, 460 IDPs and over 15,000 refugees, saying that what was needed most was adequate security and logistics to ensure they return to their respective homes.
Items donated include refrigerators, generators, bags of rice, maize, millet, garri, gallons of palm and vegetable oil, among others. The items were handed over to the various IDPs camp representatives for onward distribution to their members.