Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria surpass benchmark – UNHCR

Bisi ABASS

The surge in the Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria have surpassed the 70,000 benchmarks.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Nigeria, who raised the alarm, revealed that the refugees reside in Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Benue, Enugu, Cross River, and Taraba States.

UNHCR Nigeria, in a statement made available to newsmen by the Communication/Public Information Officer, Gabriel Adeyemo, called on the international community for urgent additional support for refugees in Nigeria.

UNHCR also said nearly 80 per cent of the refugees from Cameroon were women and children, reiterating the need for urgent support.

It disclosed that $97.7 million is needed to respond to the needs of a total of some 78,000 refugees and asylum-seekers of different nationalities and to Internally Displayed Persons (IDPs) needs such as protection, camp management and coordination, shelter and non-food items such as blankets and jerry cans.

“UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is today reiterating its call to the international community for urgent additional support for refugees in Nigeria, where the number of refugees from Cameroon has now passed 70,000, nearly 80 per cent of whom are women and children,” UNHCR said.

On her part, UNHCR Country Representative, Chansa Kapaya, said: “This is not just a number, these are people behind these numbers, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, people just like you and |, that have been forced to flee their homes to seek safety and save their lives.”

Kapaya further said: “70,000 refugees are 70,000 daughters and sons.

“UNHCR commends Nigeria because it is on its way to become a champion in implementing the Global Compact on Refugees.

“But Nigeria needs support.”

UNHCR further said the dreams and plans of the refugees were disrupted by violence in the North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon where a conflict between secessionist Non-State Armed Groups and the army is displacing people from their homes since 2017.

It added that recent arrivals and UNHCR’s protection monitoring confirmed killings, abductions, forced evictions and other forms of violence, with armed groups attacking schools and hospitals.

“Over 8,000 Cameroonian women, men and children have arrived in Nigeria’s Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Benue, Enugu, Cross River and Taraba States in the past 12 months, many in hard-to-reach rural areas. UNHCR, together with the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs, registered them. Fifty-nine per cent found refuge in local communities. The rest lives in four settlements that UNHCR helped build on land generously provided by the government.

“Nigeria has a progressive open-door approach to refugees, allowing refugee girls and boys to go to school just like nationals and their parents to work where they can. With support from UNHCR, Nigeria provides primary health care to refugees and nationals alike.

“The most pressing needs of Cameroonian refugees are food, shelter, improved health care and education as well as livelihood opportunities. With rising food prices, the economic hit of COVID-19 and the refugee influx, needs are on the rise with serious risks of gender-based violence and negative coping mechanisms such as begging and survival sex. The amount of support UNHCR can deliver is increasingly falling short. Cash for food, for instance, had to be reduced since 2019 due to insufficient funding,” UNHCR stated.