Boko Haram: Many IDPs not ready to return home – Norwegian agency

The vast majority of almost two million Nigerians driven from their homes by Boko Haram insurgency cannot return due to lack of security, an aid agency said on Wednesday.

About 1.8 million people have been displaced in Nigeria by Boko Haram insurgency, which has left at least 20,000 dead and shows little sign of ending as it drags into its ninth year.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said in a report that 86 percent of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) were not ready to return home in the immediate future.

Insecurity is cited by 84 percent of them as the main reason for wanting to stay put, it said.

“Only about six in 10 people said they wanted to return to their villages at some point, but could not do so now,” the NRC  said.

Many of the displaced people said they have tried to return home, only to be forced to flee back to safer camps and cities because of continued attacks by Boko Haram and general insecurity.

“While the end game is for communities to return home, the unfortunate truth is that pushing people back now will have harmful consequences,” Reuters quoted NRC secretary general, Jan Egeland, as saying in a statement.

 

 

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