Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu has called for a comprehensive report on the statistics of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria as well as those in the neighbouring countries who were also displaced by natural disasters.
Kalu gave the charge during a courtesy call on him by the Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees Migrants and IDPs, Ahmed Tijani Ahmed in Abuja.
The Deputy Speaker who attributed some of the displacements to the impact of natural disasters such as flooding and erosion mainly occasioned by climate change said that the parliament is interested in the data on the total national NEEDS analysis on IDPs.
He also said that some Nigerians forced to migrate across the borders by the effect of the natural occurrences on their villages and communities are eager to be resettled, stressing that adequate legislative interventions are therefore necessary to achieve the objective.
The Deputy Speaker also noted the huge effects of erosion in Abia, Anambra, Enugu and other States in the South-East, saying that the menace of ecological challenges needed urgent attention of the federal government.
Stating that the House recently suspended plenary sessions to embark on massive oversight engagements to ascertain the performance of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the government on budget implementation, the Deputy Speaker added that it also falls within the jurisdiction of the parliament to review the budgetary allocations of the agencies for the good of the people.
He said: “Your mandate includes refugees and the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). You can’t be internally displaced only through war or crisis. You can be internally displaced through climate induced displacement and that’s what we are experiencing now.
“The climate is at war with us. So, the issue of mitigation, adaptation is something that as government, we must take seriously but in doing that, agencies like you who manage the consequences of these climate impacts need to be aware that it’s beyond the visibility we are seeing that’s given to it currently.
“We heard of what happened in Maiduguri. I mentioned it even before the African Union (AU). Beyond Maiduguri, a lot more is happening around the country.
“Those people are chased out of their homes and when they are chased out who handles them? It’s your Commission. Then how prepared are you? I checked your budget last year, I was wondering if that budget, in view of what we are seeing now, the impact of this climate change, if a budget of N1.6 billion or thereabout will be able to handle that across the country.
In his remarks, the Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees Migrants and IDPs, Ahmed Tijani Ahmed expressed gratitude to the Deputy Speaker, pledging to make the report available to the Parliament within the given two weeks deadline even as he appealed for more funding of the Commission.
