Boko Haram: 86% Of IDPs ‘Not Ready To Return’ Home – Report

A new report by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has shown that 86% of people displaced by Boko Haram insurgency are unwilling to return to their liberated communities.

In the report released late Wednesday and titled ‘Not Ready to Return’, the international humanitarian body revealed that majority of the 1.8 million Internally Displaced Persons across three North Eastern states “feel safer” in their camps.

“The findings of the report are undisputed. When 86 per cent of people tell us they aren’t ready to go home yet, we must listen. This cannot fall on deaf ward,” NRC Secretary General, Jan Egeland said at a press conference in Maiduguri.

“The report was commissioned by NRC, in partnership with REACH, the Danish Refugee Council and the Protection Cluster in Nigeria,” Egeland said.

“An overwhelming 85 per cent tell us they feel safer there than where they were before, despite the deplorable attacks on camps.

“Even if the security situation improves, half the displaced people interviewed say their houses were destroyed in the conflict,” he stated.

The NRC Secretary General, who added that 48 per cent of people interviewed have lost touch with their communities, urged government to include the affected persons in its rebuilding and resettlement programme.