…Refugees enjoys similar rights like other Nigerians – NCFRMI Zonal Coordinator
By Anthony Uwadiegwu
Refugees in Nigeria enjoy every rights the citizens enjoy, except the right to vote and be voted for, Innocent Efoghe, South South Zonal Coordinator of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), has disclosed.
Efoghe made the disclosure in Calabar at a one-day workshop on Global Compact for Refugees (GCR) organized by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in partnership with NCFRMI.
According to Efoghe, “The Global Compact for Refugees (GCR) has to do with the advancement of partnership for providing services to refugees and their host communities. It’s about responsibility sharing. The GCR comes up every four years.”
Speaking further, Efoghe said, “In 2019 the federal government actually made four major pledges. The first one was to include matters of refugees, IDPs and their host communities in the national development plans.
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“The second one was to strengthen the country’s protection capacity, for instance when refugees cross the border into the country, what the federal government does is to grant them protection, starting from the process of profiling and registration, and then they are granted protection.
“And also to ensure availability and accessibility to durable solutions, and then to sustain Nigeria’s role in regional and subregion efforts in addressing the root causes of displacement. Those are the four major pledges.”
The zonal coordinator said the Nigerian government has been doing a lot to see that these pledges are carried out, adding that one of such roles had to do with the inclusion of refugees in the national identification registration exercise.
“Refugees can actually register in the NIN programme. This started about two years back.
“The government also made it possible for refugees to work, do business and move freely within Nigeria. They are allowed to move freely as long as they don’t cross international borders.
“The only thing they cannot do is to vote and be voted for. Every other thing that Nigerians can do, refugees can do it.
“Government has equally assisted refugees in the area of agriculture. When we talk of durable solutions and livelihood programmes, government has carried out a lot of workshops, trainings and also provided implements for refugees and equally make sure they have access to lands for farming. That has been done since 2019 that the pledges came up,” he stated.
He said unlike other countries, the Nigerian government does not want the camping system for refugees, explaining that “here refugees are allowed to live within the host communities.What we have in Ogoja that you hear people calling camp, it’s not a camp. It’s a settlement.
“The government does not run a camping system, reason being that refugees are free to move and do business; and it means that as they don’t keep them in camps, they can equally look for jobs and get employed.
“In the area of health, with the support of UNHCR, the government has been able to revitalize most of the primary health centers in the host communities where refugees are. A lot of them have been brought up to standard.
“In Cross River State we are looking at about 52,000 refugees as at today, and as we speak, the registration is still ongoing. Some of my staff are in the field carrying out registration.
“As the days go by the number increases. Nigeria is hosting close to 90,000 refugees from Cameroon,” he said.
On her part, Ms Irene Umondi, head of sub office, UNHCR, Ogoja, rated Cross River high in the implementation of the GCR.
According to her, “The state is very much exemplary in terms of how it has already undertaken inclusion and integration of refugees in various ways and the basic services that are given through education, health and even access to livelihood.”
The GCR provides a framework for more predictable and equitable responsibility-sharing in finding sustainable solutions to refugee situations.
The workshop preceded the Global Refugee Forum 2023 which will take place from 13 to 15 December 2023 in Geneva, Switzerland, where the Government of Nigeria will renew pledges and commitments to the GCR.
Nigeria’s commitment to the pledges include refugees, IDPs and their host communities in the national development plans; strengthening the country’s protection capacity; ensure availability and accessibility to durable solutions for refugees and IDPs.
The objective of the workshop was to orient key stakeholders and review progress made towards the implementation of the GCR through Nigeria’s pledges. It also provided essential information on the opportunities in implementing the GCR, focusing on actions to advance a GCR roadmap in Cross River State in line with the pledges of the country.
In attendance were 40 government officials, including the Deputy Governor of Cross River State, commissioners, special advisers, Directors General of relevant agencies, UNHCR, partners and refugee leaders.