NAN-H-104
Policy
By Angela Atabo
Abuja, March 23, 2017 (NAN) The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) on Thursday, urged the Federal Government to enact law on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) policy in Nigeria .
A Senior Programme Officer of the organisation, Mr Okeke Anya, made the call at the 3rd Media/Civil Society meeting on Internally Displacement in Nigeria.
Anya said that it was not good for Nigeria not to have a working policy on IDPs considering the various crises being experienced in the nation.
According to him, anybody could become an IDP at anytime and therefore, the government should speed up the process to have a national policy that would address issues of IDPs.
“ We are urging government to fast-track policy on IDPs. We are talking about both the legal and policy framework for IDPs in Nigeria.
“I am glad that some government officials who came back from the Oslo Conference are saying that they themselves have identified that not having a policy is a risk and a gap that needs to be filled.
“It will amaze you to know that with the kind of crisis we have been experiencing in Nigeria there is no policy on IDPs.
“The good news however, is that the Commission for Refugees is doing a great work in trying to ensure that the draft policy is reviewed.
“Only last week, there was a technical team that was put in place to have a final look at the draft policy for onward submission to the Ministry of Justice and the Federal Executive Council.
“The domestication of the Kampala Convention document which has to do with humanitarian issues has also passed first and second reading at the National Assembly.
“With this, we are heading towards its public hearing then proceed to the third reading, then probably pass it,’’ he said.
Anya expressed optimism that the Kampala document and the IDP policy when made law would go a long way to assist the nation to curb the unpreparedness and emergencies that come with crisis.
Mr Austin Erameh, a CISLAC Programme Officer, said the organisation had been advocating for Nigeria to have institutional framework to address the issues of IDP.
Erameh said that the intervention started way back in 2010 and that a draft document was produced in 2012.
He said “but up till date, in 2017, it has remained a draft before the recent review by the Commission for Refugees.
“ Considering that at the peak of the insurgency, Nigeria had close to 3.2 million internally displaced persons in the North-East alone and Nigeria still plays host to the highest number of displaced persons in sub-Saharan Africa.
“There should be that responsibility morally on us as a people to ensure that there is a legislation and a policy as basis for us to engage in providing humanitarian assistance to these persons of concern.’’
According to him, the policy will help to ensure that things are done appropriately because the policy is a whole conflict stretch that include the `pre, during, and post conflict issues’.
In her remarks, Ms Ojoma Ali, Programme Officer, Embassy of Switzerland in Nigeria, said Nigeria needed to initiate creative ways to assist victims, especially IDPs in the country.
Ali said that since 2014, Switzerland had contributed 32.4 million CHF to the humanitarian response in the Lake Chad region, bringing assistance to vulnerable populations.
She said that specifically within Nigeria, her country was partnering CISLAC and the Refugees Commission to get a policy and legal framework in place to ensure lasting solutions for IDPs.
According to Ali, the challenges being faced by Nigeria’s vulnerable citizens remained critical and disturbing, thus needing acceleration of the national policy on IDPs and the domestication of the Kampala convention. (NAN)
ATAB/AOS/OPI
Edited by Bayo Sekoni and Olisa Ifeajika