The Benue government has commenced the relocation of 3,698 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at the Baka IDP camp, along 72 Barracks Road, North Bank Makurdi, to temporary homes.

Aondowase Kunde, Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, said on Sunday in Makurdi that the exercise began on Friday.

Mr Kunde is coordinating the exercise that was jointly executed by the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and other stakeholders.

The commissioner said the 3,698 IDPs, comprising 1,114 households at Baka camp, were moved to temporary homes constructed along Makurdi-Gbajimba Road.

He said the relocation was part of the process of returning the IDPs to their ancestral homes.

According to him, the relocation was another major step towards fulfilling Governor Hyacinth Alia’s campaign promise of returning IDPs back to their ancestral homes.

“In search of durable solutions, the state government, in partnership with IOM, has constructed temporary homes to accommodate the IDPs pending their eventual return to their very ancestral homes.

“Government does not intend to keep the people in those camps for more than a year as the state action plan for durable solutions prepares to launch another return next month,” he said.

The Baka Camp chairman, Samson Unum, and the camp women leader, Patricia Nyikor, who spoke on behalf of the IDPs, appreciated the governor for a more decent accommodation.

They said the new accommodation was befitting as it has water, light and security.

(NAN)