Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno Sunday said his administration discovered that 650 of 1,000 families in the Internally Displaced Person (IDPs) camps were ‘ghosts’ and have benefited from foods distributed to the vulnerable.

Mr. Zulum made the discovery at midnight, during his visit to Mohammed Goni College of Islamic Legal Studies in Maiduguri, where IDPs from Abadam Local Government Area of northern Borno are camped.

While carrying out a headcount, the governor, according to a statement on his social media page, sealed entrances in the camp, so as to identify the actual IDPs and fish out residents who pretend to be displaced.

Some of the residents were said to have always spent the day times in the camp with the aim of benefitting from foods provided for IDPs, thereafter return to their homes to sleep at night.

Having completed the headcount conducted by the governor alongside an official of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Air Commodore M. T. Abdullahi, and two commissioners (Agriculture, and Local Government and Emirate Affairs) by 1 am, it was discovered that out of 1,000 households in the records of humanitarian officials, 650 households were ghosts while 50 were real.

“In humanitarian system, a household normally consist of at least six persons who are either related through families or chosen to stay together for the purpose of receiving household aids,” the statement said.

The statement, however, said that the governor was not against support for citizens in need, but opposed to residents claiming to take what is meant for the IDPs.

The northeastern state has in the past years been ravaged by Boko Haram insurgency, banditry and has rendered many homeless after they were forced to flee their homes over fears of attacks.

According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) the estimated number of IDPs in the state is 1,434,149, making it the highest in Northern Nigeria.