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The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has urged the Cross River State government to address the plight of the internally displaced persons (IDP).
The Programme Officer of the centre, Mr. Austin Erameh made the call in an interview at the weekend in Calabar.
Erameh represented the Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Musa, at the forum to address the dilemma of displaced persons in the south-south.
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He said: “Cross River State has borne the burden of displacement of persons for many years, first with the Bakassi returnees. This was followed by the fall out of the crisis in the Anglophone part of Cameroun, which is still generating a lot of concern.
“It is therefore, necessary for the state legislature to enact a law that would ensure that the rights and privileges of these Nigerians are taken into consideration.”
CISLAC enjoined the state government to be proactive in dealing with the situation to avoid a humanitarian crisis.
“It is important that these measures are adopted to drastically reduce the impact of the displacement,” he said.
The facilitator of the programme, Mr. Okeke Anya, disclosed that over 400,000 people from Bakassi had been rendered homeless, while over 200,000 cases are still in the state.
Anya spoke on: Understanding institutional frameworks for the protection and assistance of the IDP’s.”
He called for public action to compel government to legislate on the rights of the IDP’s in the state.
According to him: “Some of these IDP’s had lived a good and comfortable life before the unforeseen circumstances that deprived them of the privileges.
He lamented that Nigeria does not have a law to deal with the displaced persons, despite the growing challenges, adding that the situation would persist if the state government fails to pass a law to mitigate the suffering of these displaced persons.
