Reps plan to enact law on IDPs

Want Kampala convention domesticated
THE Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), Refugees and Initiatives on the North East, Mohammed Sani Zorro has canvassed the domestication of the Kampala convention.

Speaking to reporters at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, he remarked that the domestication of the convention is required to effectively cater for the rehabilitation, resettlement and reconstruction homes for the country’s estimated 2.2 million IDPs and refugees.

Urging the Presidency to fast track the domestication of the Kampala Convention, Zorro expressed the readiness of the House of Representatives to give it the legal backing it deserves in the interests of the IDPs and other refugees in the country.

The Guardian recalls that the Kampala Convention is a treaty of the African Union that addresses internal displacement caused by armed conflict, natural disasters and large-scale development projects in Africa.

Zorro, who represents Gumel/Maigatari, Sule Tankar/Gagarawa federal constituency of Jigawa State also enjoined the authorities to place all issues relating to the management of the IDPS and refugees under the Internal Affairs Ministry.

Underlying the need for the ratification of the Kampala convention, he said: “The process maybe from the office of the presidency maybe because it has been ratified, it has also been deposited at the African Union (AU). Now the domestication process will now require a bill because a law that will be specific to Nigeria from that convention. It is out of that convention that a law would be formulated to guide the management of all these issues towards a durable solution.

“That is why the issue of a focal point, that is the ministry that would champion these matters is needed because right now we don’t have, normally it is the ministry that will now table this before the executive council and then it is through it that it will be routed to the National Assembly.