The Federal Government and the United Nations International Organisation for Migration (IOM) have set in motion processes to validate Nigeria’s National Action Plan (NAP) on sustainable management of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
At a one-day technical working group meeting to revalidate the plan yesterday in Abuja, IOM Chief of Mission, Laurent De Boek, said the exercise is critical to having a well-developed and comprehensive structure that addresses internal displacements.
He noted that the document provides a roadmap to go beyond purely humanitarian assistance and look at how to constructively develop sustainable pathways for internal displacements.
“It sets out the obligations and responsibilities of each government entity under the national policy and relevant benchmarks, timelines, and indicators to facilitate monitoring and accountability.
“Through this, it identifies the budgetary requirements for the implementation of the national policy to enable the necessary allocation and resources of the fund.
“As a result of the collaborative and inclusive process that has involved the input and feedback of various stakeholders, including line ministries, institutions, state authorities, UN agencies, NGOs, and displaced affected communities,” he noted.
Speaking on activities that will aid implementation of the policy, consultant and developer of the plan, Mubarak Yusuf, pointed that the national plan is trying to ensure that critical activities that would aid the policies are outlined.
He said: “The National Action Plan is the only available document that has a segmented data of IDPs. It ensures that critical activities that would aid the policy are outlined.
“One of the sectors on the National Action Plan is on durable solutions. One of the sectors on the National Action Plan is on a durable solution and it also looks at the return of this displaced population. We have collaborated with the Ministry of Defence, Nigeria Police and Nigeria Immigration to ensure their safety.”
According to him, there is a collaboration with the security agencies on safety of the IDPs’ community.
