Saraki to lead delegation to IDP camps

… as Senate asks Buhari to establish C’tee on North East rehabilitation

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, will lead a delegation of the upper chamber to visit camps of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Maiduguri, Borno State capital.

Borno, North East Nigeria, has been the epicentre of the bloody campaign of Boko Haram.

A report by the Internal Displaced Monitoring Centre (IDMC) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) rated Nigeria as the largest population of IDPs in Africa, with 3.3 million internally displaced persons.

The report, “Global Overview 2014: people internally displaced by conflict and violence,” stated that the number of internally displaced persons in Nigeria is approximately a third of the IDPs in Africa and 10 percent of IDPs in the world.

“Multiple complex causes trigger displacement, providing significant challenges to governments and humanitarians on the ground,” says Alfredo Zamudio, director of IDMC.

The Senate at Wednesday’s plenary also passed a motion seeking the establishment of a presidential intervention committee on the rehabilitation of the North East zone.

While commending the military for its efforts at nipping the menace in the bud, the Red Chamber also asked President Muhammadu Buhari to do everything possible to eradicate Boko Haram insurgents in the country.

The motion was sponsored by George Sekibo (PDP, Rivers East) and 35 other senators.

Sekibo noted with dismay, the infrastructural damages caused by the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, especially in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States.

OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja