Nigeria Chief of Mission of the International Organisation of Migration (IOM), Laurent de Boeck, has described the displacement crisis in the North East as one of the world’s most complex affecting over 2.3 million persons.
According to him, the massive displacement is linked to violence and the actions of non-state armed groups, as well as inter-communal clashes.
Boeck raised that alarm, yesterday, in Maiduguri, in a new report entitled ‘Intention Survey: Voices of Internally Displaced Persons in North East Nigeria’.
He noted that the effect of climate change and environmental degradation fuelled the displacement of persons in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.
Since the onset of the crisis, he added, IOM, through the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), has played an essential role in gathering and analysing data.
The IOM boss explained that the data were to disseminate critical multi-layered information on the mobility, vulnerabilities and needs of displaced and mobile populations.
Boeck stated: “The DTM enables decision-makers and responders to provide this emergency humanitarian assistance, as well as longer-term solutions.”
Besides decision-making, he said the report could shed light on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) preferred durable solutions among the three conventional options.
The options, he added, included voluntary “return and integration” to places of origin and voluntary relocation elsewhere in the country.
“Over 25,000 displaced families living across 107 local councils and 837 wards in Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe states were surveyed between November 16 and December 18, 2023.
“The cumulative findings across the six states showed that 38 per cent of IDPs in camps and camp-like settings as well as host communities would prefer to integrate within the host communities,” said the report.
The IOM boss, therefore, recommended that there should be stronger synergies between government and non-governmental actors in the return and reintegration of displaced persons.
