Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State has led a high-powered Federal Government delegation to Chad to repatriate 7,790 refugees.

According to him, the refugees were indigenes of the state, displaced by the 15-year Boko Haram insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin communities.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Dauda Iliya, stated yesterday in Maiduguri that the delegation included the Minister of State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Yusuf Tanko Sununu, and the Federal Commissioner/Chief Executive Officer of the National Commission for Refugees, Migration and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI).

Iliya added that the team was received on Wednesday in Baga Sola by the Governor of Lac Province, Saleh Hagger Tidjani.

Before the launch of the first repatriation batch, Zulum attended the signing of a tripartite agreement between the governments of Nigeria, Chad and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) at Baga Solar.

Dr Sununu also signed on behalf of Nigeria, while Merlin and the second representative of UNHCR in Baga, Sola, signed on behalf of Chad and the UN agency.

Addressing the federal and Borno delegations, Zulum emphasised that only those that have voluntarily indicated interest in return, are to be repatriated.

He, therefore, expressed gratitude to the Chadian government for hosting about 7, 800 refugees.

In his remarks, Sununu commended the governor for the leadership he has been providing to deliver services in the various sectors of the economy.