Borno IDPs May Join Boko Haram Terrorists Soon – Zulum Airs His Fears

The executive Governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum has expressed worries over the vulnerability of some citizens of the state who have been forced to make the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps their abodes for months due to incessant terrorist attacks in their communities.

Naija News understands that the state government under the leadership of Zulum had just shut down the Dalori-1, Dalori-2, Gubio and Muna IDP camps in Maiduguri.

Zulum said the citizens have suffered enough that the state government cannot continue to keep them in the IDP camps.

The governor, however, expressed fears that dwindling resources and poverty, if not tackled, may force some of the people to recruit themselves into Boko Haram and its splinter group–the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters.

Zulum said his administration will, however, do everything possible to ensure that more communities are resettled in a dignified manner.

He said: “The only way to address the problems of insurgency is for the government to address the root cause which among others includes increasing poverty, infrastructure deficit and the climate vulnerabilities.

“Therefore, what we need to do is to return the IDPs to their ancestral homes in a dignified manner. Nobody is forced to return to his ancestral home, we are here to support voluntary return in accordance with the Kampala Convention. People will be supported with means of livelihood so that they earned their means of livelihood by themselves otherwise our people shall continue to live in the IDP camps.”

Zulum reiterates that all IDP camps in the state will be closed before the expiration of his tenure, urging the Federal Government to initiate a medium and long sustainable framework to curb the over-dependence on humanitarian support by the IDPs.

He commended the chairman of the Victim Support Fund General, Theophilus Danjuma (rtd) and the fund for the largest support to the plights of the victims and government of the state during the over 13 years of humanitarian crisis.

Zulum also urged the returnees to make good use of the assistance and support the government resettlement efforts by assisting the security agents with useful information