The Governor of Borno Kashim Shettima, says all Internally Displaced Person camps in the state would be closed down by May 29, 2017.
Shettima said this on Friday in Maiduguri while speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria.
He said the government was working hard to rebuild towns destroyed by the Boko Haram terrorists to ensure speedy return of the displaced persons to their homes.
“We have reconstructed Bama by 25 per cent; my target is to reach 50 per cent by the end of this year and 75 per cent by first quarter of 2017.
“I want to close down all IDP camps latest May 29, 2017, because the IDP camps are becoming a huge problem on their own.
“If we allow the entrenchment of these IDP camps, they are pregnant with loads of challenges of early child marriage, prostitution, drug abuse, gangsterism.
“And we will be confronted with huge social challenges of an entitlement complex of people feeling that they are entitled to be catered for.
“So in as much as we observe the Kampala Convention, we will not compel anybody to return to their communities.
“But we know our people better than any other person, and it is not for somebody sitting in Abuja, Paris, London, US and any other places to dictate to us on how we should live our lives.
“Our people, in spite of their poverty, still have some pride left in them, a lot of them will rather go back to their communities and eat guinea corn and millet than to eat your rice and chicken in the IDP camps.
“This is why we want to restore the dignity of our people by rebuilding their homes, rebuilding their schools, engaging them in gender empowerment initiatives so as to enable them return back to their homes, ” Shettima said.
Dolapo is a writer and journalist who works with YNaija. He has interests in Christianity, politics and sports.
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