President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that people displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency will begin to return to their homes in 2016.
The President said on Monday in Abuja that the federal government will rebuild the homes of the displaced people of the North East.
While meeting with the delegation from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) led by former British Foreign Minister, David Miliband, President Buhari promised that his government will promptly facilitate the resettlement of over two million internally displaced persons.
“In 2016, the return of the IDPs will start in earnest. They will return to their communities to meet destroyed schools and other infrastructure which have to be rebuilt.
“With agriculture being moribund in the region in the last two years without cropping, hunger is already manifest. We will welcome all the help we can get to assist the returnees.”
Furthermore, President Buhari told Miliband and his delegation that the Federal Government will welcome the support of the IRC and other local and international non-governmental organizations for the rehabilitation of internally displaced persons.
The President said that there was an urgent need for support in the areas of agricultural inputs, health, nutrition, water and sanitation while urging the IRC and other international agencies to work with the Presidential Committee on the North-East and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
