The National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) says there are 52,000 refugees in Cross River.

Innocent Efoghe, South-South zonal coordinator, disclosed this at a one-day Global Compact for Refugees (GCR) workshop organised by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in partnership with NCFRMI.

While noting that the figure would increase with time, he noted that the refugees were mostly from Cameroon. Mr Efoghe, however, appealed that the refugees should be seen as Nigerians as they had similar rights as Nigerians, except the right to vote and be voted for.

Concerning the workshop, he said, “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.”

Mr Efoghe added, “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. 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.

“It also ensures 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.”

Mr Efoghe said the government had been doing a lot to see that those pledges were carried out, adding that one of such roles had to do with including refugees in the national identification registration exercise.

He added, “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.”

(NAN)