Lt.
General Abdulrahman Dambazau Interior
Lt.
General Abdulrahman Dambazau Interior Minister
Nigeria to Commence Repatriation of Refugees from
Cameroon
The Honourable Minister of Interior Lt Gen (rtd) Abdulrahman
Bello Dambazau has said that Nigeria is collaborating with UNHCR
through the Technical Working Group to actualize the voluntary
repatriation of the refugees in safety and dignity.
Gen. Dambazau disclosed this during the opening ceremony of the
Technical Session of the Second Regional Protection Dialogue on the
Lake Chad Basin holding in Abuja.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr
Mohammed Bello Umar, the Minister said, in line with international
best practices, biometric capturing of IDPs/Nigerian returnees from
Chad, Cameroon and Niger was conducted before resettling them.
While enumerating the Federal Government’s achievements on the
2016 action statement, Gen. Dambazau stated that government has
ensured ongoing capacity building workshops on strengthening state
actors’ response to sexual and gender based violence, sexual
agencies in four states which are: “Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno and
Gombe”.
He said further that a tripartite agreement for voluntary
repatriation of Nigerian refugees in Cameroon was signed in March
2017. Adding that Nigerian military and para-military agencies have
collaborated in providing escorts to and during relief material
distribution in the affected areas.
Gen. Dambazau emphasized that a lot was being done to provide
care, maintenance and livelihoods support to refugees and
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in different parts of the
country.
In her speech at the occasion, the Federal Commissioner for
Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Hajiya Sadiya
Farouq said that the Commission have increased the pace of
registration, documentation and addressing of nationality issues of
affected persons, adding “especially the new arrivals from
Cameroon”.
Hajiya Farouq said “We have equally developed the Convention
Travel Document for Refugees to take the routine refugees status
determination to a higher level. We have established new field
offices and expanded existing ones in the six geopolitical zones of
the country in order to enhance our capacity to provide protection
and support services to persons of concern wherever they may be in
Nigeria,” she said.
Mrs Farouq noted that significant progress has been made in
ending the Boko Haram insurgency.
According to her, Nigeria had demonstrated its commitment to
implementing the Abuja Action Summit.
The Abuja Action Statement on Protection was declared and
adopted in June 2016
Four nations in the Lake Chad Basin region namely: Nigeria,
Niger, Chad and Cameroon Republics, under the technical
facilitation of the UNHCR jointly agreed to address the needs of
refugees.
The four nations agreed to proactively enhance protection and
respond to the urgent needs of refugees, IDPs and other affected
populations in the region.
SIGNED
Mohammed Manga
Director (Press & Public Relations)
For: Honourable Minister