Governor Zulum orders immediate closure of the IDP camp in Bama

Following a period of relative calm in several communities, Governor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State has ordered the immediate closure of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Bama. The camp, the largest displacement facility outside the state capital of Maiduguri, will be shut down by noon on Thursday. The Governor also indicated that the Gwoza camp would be closed in a similar manner in the coming weeks.

The announcement was made in Gwoza after the Governor visited the Government Secondary School IDP camp for an assessment. “We visited Bama yesterday and supervised the screening of IDPs, and by 12 noon, Bama IDP camp should be closed,” he said. “Today we are here in Gwoza, we have profiled all of them, and Insha Allah, in the next two or three weeks this camp will also be closed.”

Governor Zulum said the return of residents has been made possible by the relative peace that now prevails in most areas previously occupied by Boko Haram insurgents. Over the past seven years, the Borno State Government has successfully resettled several communities in Bama Local Government Area, including Darajamal, Nguro Soye, Goniri, Banki, Abbaram, Ngoshe, Kirawa, Warabe and other locations across the state.

He expressed concern over the rising criminality within IDP camps, noting that illicit activities have turned some facilities into hotspots for social vices. “In our camps now, there is an ongoing criminality. We have identified all of them and they’ll be resettled based on their localities and to their community heads. Otherwise, Boko Haram/ISWAP are gradually infiltrating the camps,” the Governor said.

The Governor also warned of a disturbing trend in which people are leaving their homes to resettle in camps in order to collect relief items from non‑governmental organisations. He indicated that a significant number of fake IDPs had been identified during the screening exercise, stressing that the government cannot sustain the maintenance of camps under such circumstances.

He added that the Gwoza IDP camp would follow the Bama camp in the next phase of closures and that several other camps in different parts of the state will also be closed before the end of his tenure. “Many of those that are residents living in their homes are returning to the camps to receive handouts from non‑governmental organisations. We will ensure the returns are sustainable. One year ago, this was almost a ghost camp with not more than about 400 households. It is surprising that about 3,000 households are back in the camp, and most of them are residents living within the town,” the governor said.