By Sadiq Abubakar
Maiduguri
Borno state government has begun the relocation of first batch of 602 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS), Yerwa, to Dalori resettlement camp for the re-opening of closed public schools over Boko Haram insurgency in the state.
The Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Musa Inuwa Kubo, who addressed journalists at a news conference on Monday, disclosed that the relocation of the first phase of IDPs would have started last year, but due to logistic and security reasons.
He said: “We thank God it is a reality to reopen our schools that were closed down for over a year now, we are conveying this morning 602 IDPs to Dalori camp with their families, as we have assured the people that this exercise takes care of the basic needs of the displaced persons.
“We promised them earlier that whenever that we are taking them from the schools, will certainly not be less than the conditions that they are leaving behind in these schools turned into a resettlement camp.”
While assuring the IDPs, he said: “We assured the people that where we are taking the displaced persons have water and toilets are there; all the basic facilities of shelter and security have already been put in place.”
He said the lack of these basic facilities and the security of the IDPs delayed their relocations to camps for these schools, like GGSS, to be re-opened for students who had been forced to remain with their parents and guardians at homes.
Kubo also warned: “If we are to stay and accept their terms of relocating over 110, 000 IDPs in public schools to camps, we may not open the closed schools this year. It is going to cause more problems than the solutions we are looking for.”
