Nigeria hosts 1.8 million internally displaced persons – UNHCR

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said Nigeria is currently home to 1.8 million internally displaced persons.

UNHCR Regional Representative for West Africa, Ms Liz Ahua stated this in Uyo on Monday during the 2019 ECOWAS Ambassadors retreat jointly organised by ECOWAS and the UNHCR themed: “Mixed Flows and Durable Solutions in the ECOWAS Region”.

She said the growing number of displaced persons in West Africa is becoming more challenging as terrorism grows, and many communities are becoming indoctrinated, adding that the problem of displaced persons can only be tackled jointly.

She noted that climate change is becoming a threat to the livelihood of millions of people across the region, resulting in situations that threaten the progress of ECOWAS and UNHCR.

“Never since the inception of ECOWAS and UNHCR long standing relationship have we been confronted by challenges so immense and diverse as the growing crises, that are in every respect unlike anything we have seen.

“Even as the spectre of terrorism looms, entire communities are being indoctrinated right before our eyes from the shores of Lake Chad to the Mediterranean Sea and southward to the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean.

“Others have been caught between the cross fire and the number of displaced people today presents a new challenge; one that will only be overcome by joint action. Nigeria hosts 1.8 million internally displaced people and Burkina Faso is threatening to become the new theatre of displacement.

Also speaking, the Permanent Representative of Nigeria to ECOWAS, Ambassador Babatunde Nurudeen, said political instability is responsible for the migrations of Nigerians and member-states in West Africa to Europe and other developed countries.

He said the migration has impacted negatively on the economic development in ECOWAS states as useful human capital resources are being exported out of the sub-region.

He stated that a larger part of people moving out of the sub-region and Nigeria inclusive are young energetic persons that would have served as viable human resources had they stayed back in their countries of origin.

Ambassador Nurudeen, who also doubles as the Chair of the Permanent Representatives’ Committee at the event, said the situation has resulted in more negative consequences than positive ones for Africa and responsible for a mixed flow of complex movement of population made up of refugees, asylum seekers, economic migrants, victims of trafficking and stranded migrants among others.

In his opening remark, Akwa Ibom State governor, Udom Emmanuel, said Nigerian youths were leaving the country for greener pastures because of lack of employment, adding that the talk about the porosity of borders is based on the fact that no country wants to welcome economic liabilities.

He stated that his government is investing in the state and the lives of the youths to make the environment conducive for them to strive.

Emmanuel who was represented by the Secretary to the Sate Government, Mr Emmanuel Ekuwem at the occasion said, “in Akwa Ibom state, the governor is keen on the need to get young people off the streets.”