Moving Borno’s IDPs from schools

 

We wholeheartedly welcome the decision of the Borno State Government to partner with stakeholders to build shelters for Internally-Displaced Persons (IDP’s) and thus move them away from public schools, where they had been quartered since the Boko Haram insurgency became an all-out war.

The programme entails the collaboration of the Borno State Government with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to build 2,500 family shelters that could accommodate, at least, 20,000 IDPs. According to the UNHCR Field/Protection Officer in Borno State, Mr Mohammed Tejan-Cole, the new camp would have facilities, such as toilets, boreholes and health centres.

With the relocation of the IDPs to these shelters, the Borno State Government will be able to reopen the schools that had been taken over by the refugees, and put educational activities in the state back on track.
We have always warned that with the end of Boko Haram now clearly in sight, the task of maintaining vigilance and rebuilding the battered North East would require massive, multilateral collaborations. The proactive engagement of the United Nations mission in Nigeria with the federal and state governments of the three Boko Haram-devastated states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa is highly commendable.

 

The school activities of these areas, which had been disrupted by the insurgents for the best part of the last three years, can now come back on stream. It is regrettable that the insurgency was allowed to grow to the point where hundreds of schools were set ablaze by these anarchists.  Hundreds of teachers and health workers also lost their lives, some in the line of duty.
We hope that this murderous group now no longer poses the risk of ever returning to harass innocent citizens. It will make no sense for these rebuilding and resettlement efforts to commence only for the danger to return.
It is important that the Safe School Initiative, of the last administration will now be fully activated to prevent a re-enactment of the Chibok Girls saga.
We suggest that in view of the realities of this stage of our history, where innocent, helpless citizens can easily, without notice, be displaced by such phenomena as terrorism, floods, and violent criminals such as “Fulani herdsmen”, governments at all levels should consider the provision of communal shelters as part of amenities they must invest in.
This will reduce the necessity to camp displaced persons in schools and thus allow the academic calendar to continue to run without interruption. This should be considered as part of the welfare packages, especially for those forced from their homes by forces beyond their control.

Source: Vanguard