The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, on Monday put the number of persons displaced by Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East at five million.
Dogara said that the 2.1 million often quoted as the official number of Internally Displaced Persons in the region was incorrect as the IDPs’ figure was much higher.
He said this during a meeting with the Head of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Ms. Angel Dekonge-Antangara, at the National Assembly in Abuja.
“As an indigene of the North-East, it is safe to say the number of IDPs in Nigeria can be up to five million.
“Terrorism is global and if not dealt with; it will spill across borders such as the current refugee crisis facing Europe from Syria, Libya, etc,” the speaker told the UNHCR.
He urged concerted efforts to fight terrorism, which he described as serious threat to global peace.
He said the House as a parliament gave full backing to the ongoing anti-terror campaign in the country, including sponsoring motions to draw attention to the plight of victims.
Dekonge-Antangara had informed Dogara that she was in Nigeria to look into the Memorandum of Understanding the UNHCR had with Nigeria on stateless or borderless people.
She recalled how Nigeria actively participated in the Kampala Convention of 2001 and also played host to meetings in 2006 and 2011 on the convention.
She added, “I hope Nigeria will sustain its pioneer role in the security and resettlement of IDPs as well as parliamentary input to sensitising on the rights of IDPs as human beings.
“This issue warrants serious parliamentary attention. UNHCR is ready to provide technical and even financial support to organise events to sensitise members on the way forward in preventing and resettling IDPs when they occur.
“UNHCR requires parliamentary involvement against statelessness as this is a state which the UN continues to fight against.”
