FG plans to close all IDPs camps soon – NCFRMI boss

The Federal Government is hoping to close all Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in the country soon after providing durable solutions to the displaced persons.

The Federal Commissioner of the National Commission for Refugees Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Tijani Ahmed, disclosed this at the opening of the photo exhibition “A Visual Diary Through Still Life Photography” in Abuja late on Monday.

The programme was staged in collaboration with the Embassy of Spain in partnership with the Spanish female photographer’s platform Cómo ser fotógrafa.

This exhibition is a result of the 3rd photo workshop the Embassy organised for 17 young women from the Abuja IDPs camp.

While commending the Spanish embassy for the training of the girls, the Federal Commissioner said the government had been providing several durable solutions to the IDPs, stressing that some of them were the provision of a comfortable environment, accommodation and a lot of training programmes to enable them to kick-start their lives once again.

He said the commission was already planning the construction of well-equipped skill acquisition centres in the six geo-political zones of the country intending to equip all IDPs with skills that can make them kick-start their lives.

“We intend to start this construction in three major zones. They are the North Central, North East and the North West.

“All these are components of durable solutions and we hope that in no distance time, we should be able to exit all the people who are living in the camps across the country,” he said.

Most IDPs across the country were those who were displaced by the insurgency in the Northeast.

Speaking earlier, the Ambassador of Spain to Nigeria, Juan Sell, said the training of the girls was clear evidence of the commitment of the Embassy of Spain in Abuja towards the empowerment of women through culture.

He said the embassy intended to increase the creativity of these young women who can find through photography a way of expressing emotions, ideas and inspiration through the display of their daily lives in the camps.

“This could eventually lead to improving their employability and access to new job opportunities through this technical and vocational training,” he said.

Chisom Nwankwo, founder of The Skilled Women Initiative, said 45 IDPs have been trained in photography through this initiative in the past three years.