Governor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State has announced plans to close the Bama Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp, the largest displacement camp in the state outside Maiduguri, within the next month.
Gatekeepers News reports that the governor made the announcement on Thursday after an assessment visit to the Government Science Secondary School IDP Camp in Bama.
During the visit, Zulum personally supervised the screening of displaced persons for more than three hours to ensure that only legitimate households were included in the ongoing resettlement programme. He reiterated his administration’s commitment to ending displacement in Bama Local Government Area.
“We are here to examine the remaining displaced people that are living in the IDP camp with a view to ensuring the closure of Bama IDP camp,” Zulum stated.
According to the governor, the exercise is part of ongoing efforts to facilitate the safe and dignified return of displaced families to their communities after years of disruption caused by the Boko Haram insurgency.
Over the past seven years, the Borno State Government has resettled residents in several communities across Bama Local Government Area, including Darajamal, Nguro Soye, Goniri, Banki and Abbaram.
Bama is among the areas most affected by the insurgency, with thousands of residents forced to flee their homes. Zulum said the screening of male heads of households from affected communities has been completed as part of efforts to finalize the resettlement process and shut down the camp permanently.
“We have three communities that are left to be resettled, namely, communities from Mayanti, Goniri, and Bula Kuriye. By the next one month, the Bama IDP camp, which is the largest camp in the state outside the state capital, will be closed,” he added.
The planned closure marks another step in the state government’s efforts to restore normalcy and support the return of displaced residents to their ancestral communities.
