ABUJA – A total of 17,053 babies were born in 18 different locations of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Borno State between 2019 to end of May 2021.
Chief of Mission, International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Nigeria, Franz Celestin, made this known during the weekend in Abuja at a meeting with journalists, where he disclosed that about 2.1 million people were internally displaced in the Northeastern part of Nigeria as a result of insurgencies.
He also expressed concerns that economic hardships in the country, exacerbated by the high unemployment rate has forced many young Nigerians to embark on irregular migration to Europe for greener pastures.
Celestin said the IOM, working in collaboration with the National Population Commission (NPC) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) documented and provided the parents of the children with birth certificates in the last two years.
He noted that IOM is the largest provider of Shelters in North East and managing over 150 IDP camps, saying the organization is also involved in data collection which is made available to the international community for timely intervention, adding that this was important for food distribution and medical provision among others. (Saturday Tribune)
