NAN-H-77
Education
By Kabir Muhammad
Abuja, July 7,2017(NAN)The FCT Administration says it will continue to provide access to basic education for the children and other vulnerable persons at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in the FCT.
The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, said this when he received a delegation from the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCRMI), headed by the Federal Minister, Hajiya Sadiya Faruk on Friday in Abuja.
The minister added that the provision will continue pending when the IDPs would return to their original communities.
He disclosed that the administration has made available its vocation and rehabilitation centres for use by NGOs and other relevant government agencies in the FCT.
He said the centre would be used for the training of IDPs to at least equip them with the basic economic skills while they are still housed at the IDPs camps.
According to the minister, we have tried using our relationship with a number of NGOs to make sure that we concentrate on giving the young boys and girls basic education.
“They require this so that by the time they move back to their communities, at least they would not have missed out too much.
“Within the FCT, we have a number of vocational institutions that we make available to agencies of government that may want to use them to provide some form of intervention or skill acquisition training.
“So, in order for every agency not to duplicate by establishing its own vocational centre, I will advise that your organisation leverage on what is already on ground,’’ he added.
Bello said this is because NCRMI will be catering for people who are really not going to be permanent.
He urged the NCRMI and similar agencies, including those in the FCT to assist these people, especially the young ones, noting that most of them have missed out of school for four to five years.
“With respect to your request for a transit camp for deportees, we would look into the master plan, and we believe there should be something that could accommodate this,’’ he said.
Bello said if for any reason deportees are brought to Abuja, NCRMI can have a place to keep them, do some medical checks on them and then try to work out how to link them up with their final places of abode.
“That is something we can work on and we should be able to make land available to sort this out,’’ the minister added.
Earlier, the NCRMI Commissioner, Hajiya Sadiya Faruk said the Commission has been receiving Nigerian nationals who have been returning from various parts of the world.
She noted that the commission’s intervention for this group has been focused on return, readmission as well as integration to at least to ensure that the returnees are brought back in dignity and safety.
“And are able to settle back into the society so as to contribute to the development of such communities,’’ she added.
Faruk said the Commission is currently engaged in providing economic and employment opportunities for the displaced persons living in camps.
“Because we believe that poverty has contributed immensely to the internal displacements, especially in the North-East.
“We are committed to keying into the recovery plan envisioned by President Muhammadu Buhari to alleviate the sufferings of our persons of concern while protecting their dignity.
“We realised that we cannot do it alone without reaching to those that are widely known for their empathy to the plight of the vulnerable persons,’’ she said.
She said that was the reason for coming to the FCT Administration to explore areas of collaboration in terms of providing skills for the IDPs and transit camps particularly for deportees.(NAN)
KM/AAB/AFA
Edited By Adeboye Ajayi/Felix Ajide