Borno governor bans NGOs from intervening in newly resettled communities

The Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum has banned the distribution of food and non-food items to internally displaced persons, IDPs, in resettled communities.

He made this known in a letter sent to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UNOCHA, which was obtained by our reporter and believed to be from the governor, as his signature was appended to the two-paged correspondence.

The letter reads : ‘The Borno State Government wishes to acknowledge and thank you all for your support to the internally displaced persons as a result of insurgency.

‘As you are aware, the Borno State Government is deeply committed to supporting our people to build resilience and support themselves out of poverty.

‘To this end, the government has committed to closing all official IDP camps in Maiduguri by December, 2021. Pat of this initiative is to empower people to begin to build back their lives,’ parts of the letter said.

The government’s letter was understood to mean a shift from providing humanitarian support to empowerment, which will eventually see the resettled communities stand on their own.

The government has earlier communicated its plans to close all temporary camps in Maiduguri by the end of the year.

So far many have been closed and IDPs resettled.

‘In furtherance to this, the Borno State Government, after consultation with our communities, have decided that no partner organization, either local, national or international shall henceforth be allowed to embark on distribution of food and non-food items in any of our newly resettled communities across the state. Food distribution will only be allowed in IDP cams and IDPs in host communities for now.

‘In order to ensure coordination and reduce duplication, all new areas partners wish to start distribution of food and non-food items should first be discussed and cleared by the Borno State Government,’ another part of the letter said.