The Federal Commissioner in charge of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim, said Monday that with “the unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Nigeria,” the number of IDPs is expected to increase to three million.
The Commission also said Nigeria would soon receive 73,000 refugees from 23 countries with over 500,000 Nigerians awaiting repatriation from Chad, Niger, Cameroon, Mali, Libya and other countries.
Appearing for the 2022 budget defence of the Commission before the House of Representatives Committee on Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees, Ms Suleiman-Ibrahim the expected increase is reason for the Commission’s N5.7 billion budget for the 2022 fiscal year, comprising N4.5bn for capital expenditure and N1.182bn for recurrent expenditure.
She said the 2022 budget proposal was aimed at meeting the growing needs of all “persons of concerns” and addressing the protracted nature of displacement in the country caused by insurgency, banditry, ethno-religious crisis as well as natural disaster.
A member of the committee, Darlington Nwokocha, asked the Commission to provide details of the 73,000 refugees and the countries they were expected to come from.
He also demanded 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 chairman of the committee, Muhammed Jega, said the committee was poised for collaborative action with the executive to design a budget that would meet the expectations of the teeming populace.
The committee adopted the 2022 budget as presented by the commissioner.
It, however, raised a question on the N50m proposed by the commission as “welfare packages” in the budget.