JUST IN: Gov Zulum orders closure of Borno’s largest IDP camp outside Maiduguri

Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno has ordered the immediate closure of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Bama, saying the Gwoza facility will also be shut within weeks.

Governor Zulum announced the decision on Thursday after an assessment visit to the Government Secondary School IDP camp in Gwoza.

The Bama camp is the largest displacement facility outside Maiduguri, the Borno capital.

“We visited Bama yesterday and supervised the screening of IDPs, and by 12 noon, Bama IDP camp should be closed. Today we are here in Gwoza, we have profiled all of them, and Insha Allah, in the next two or three weeks this camp will also be closed,” the governor said.

Governor Zulum said the closure of the camps was made possible by improved security in communities previously occupied by Boko Haram insurgents.

He said the state government had, over the past seven years, resettled displaced persons in several communities, including Darajamal, Nguro Soye, Goniri, Banki, Abbaram, Ngoshe, Kirawa and Warabe.

The governor expressed concern over rising criminal activities in IDP camps, warning that insurgents were gradually infiltrating the facilities.

“In our camps now, there is an ongoing criminality; we have identified all of them and they’ll be resettled based on their localities and to their community heads. Otherwise, Boko Haram/ISWAP are gradually infiltrating the camps,” he said.

Governor Zulum also alleged that some residents had left their communities to return to IDP camps to receive relief materials from non-governmental organisations.

He said the screening exercise uncovered a significant number of what he described as “fake IDPs”.

His words: “Many of those that are residents living in their homes are returning to the camps to receive handouts from non-governmental organisations.

“We will ensure the returns are sustainable. One year ago, this was almost a ghost camp with not more than about 400 households. It is surprising that about 3,000 households are back in the camp, and most of them are residents living within the town.”

The governor said several other IDP camps across the state would be closed before the end of his administration as part of the government’s resettlement programme.