500,000 Nigerians to be repatriated from Libya, Mali other countries in 2022 – FG

No fewer than 500,000 Nigerians are to be repatriated from Libya, Mali, Chad, Niger, Cameroon and other countries in 2022.

The Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRI), Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim, disclosed this when she appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees on Monday to defend the 2022 budget proposal of her agency.

She had during her presentation revealed that Nigeria is to host about 73,000 refugees from 23 countries with over 500,000 Nigerians awaiting repatriation from Chad, Niger, Cameroon, Mali, Libya and other countries.

The commissioner also said that the unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the country has increased the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the country to 1 million just as she said the figure is expected to rise to about 3 million.

But a member of the committee, Darlington Nwokocha, while responding to her presentation said there was a need for the Commission to provide details of the refugees and the countries they are expected to come from.

He also said there was a need for the Commission to provide more details about the proposed capital projects of the commission for 2022, saying; “your budget lacks details and it is vague for proper accountability.”

The lawmakers also queried N50 million proposed by the Commission as “welfare packages” in the budget.

Earlier, the commissioner made a presentation of N5.7 billion for the 2022 fiscal year comprising N4.5 billion for capital and N1.182 billion for recurrent.

She said the 2022 budget was put together with aim of meeting the growing needs of all “persons of concerns” as well as addressing the protracted nature of displacement in the country caused by insurgency, banditry, ethnoreligious crisis as well as a natural disaster.

Chairman of the committee, Muhammed Jega, in his opening remark said it was poised for collaborative action with the executive arm of government to ensure that they design a budget that will meet the expectations of the teeming populace.

The committee adopted the 2022 budget as presented by the commissioner.