The UNHCR High Commissioner, Philipo Grandi, made the disclosure in an address to mark the World Refugees Day at Anyake in Kwande Local Government Area of Benue, where Cameroonian refugees are camped.

He noted that the growing number of refugees across the world necessitated greater advocacy for support to assist them return home when the time was right or build new lives elsewhere.

The commissioner said that the refugees need to be integrated into new communities and given the chance to realise their potentials.

He therefore urged countries and communities hosting refugees to evolve more systematic, long term support as they take on the job of helping the uprooted families.

Grandi also said that helping refugees to rebuild their lives needed the cooperation of everybody, to enable them access education, a place to live, job, and be part of a community.

“I challenge organisations and others to join us in receiving and supporting refugees in our schools, neighbourhood, and workplaces,” he said.

Earlier, Thomas Faustini, Head of UNHCR office in Adikpo, encouraged people to strive to resolve issues amicably to avoid conflicts that would displace them.

Faustini appreciated the Federal and Benue governments as well as organisations supporting the Cameroonian refugees.

The UNHCR Senior Desk Officer, Geneva, Mr Zulqarnain Anjum, promised that the Cameroonian refugees of school age would be enrolled in schools in order to build their capacity.

Also, the Chairman, Kwande local government, Mr Terdoo Kente, appreciated the host community for donating their farmlands to camp the refugees.

Kente, represented by his Vice, Mr Andrew Orvande, also commended the various organisations taking care of the refugees, noting that it was a herculean task to cater for displaced people.

The Divisional Police Officer for the area, Rasheed Alli called for the fencing of the camp to enhance the security of inmates, and assured that the police would continue to protect them.

Levi Ikyum, chairman of Anyake community, cautioned the refugees against exploiting the mineral deposits in the area to avoid conflict with the host community.

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The commission has also expressed worry about the increase in the number of children used as suicide bombers from nine in 2016 to 27 in the first quarter of the year.

The regrouping and returning of insurgents to the Sambisa forest may rubbish the successes recorded so far by the Federal Government in the anti-terrorism fight and worsen the security situation in the affected parts of the country.

UNHCR, in the statement made available to newsmen through the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the increase in the number of IED attacks around Maiduguri and Southern Borno had raised concern over the safety of the IDPs in the camps.

According to the report, the security situation is also the same with Cameroon, as there has been an increase in the number of incursions with deadly attacks, suicide bombings and kidnappings occurring on a regular basis.

It added that the security situation in Niger Republic had deteriorated as Boko Haram insurgents carried out a major attack on Niger Security and Defence Force position near Gueskerou and allegedly stole food stocks, medication and cattle from various locations.

The Nigeria Northeast Humanitarian Emergency situation report reveals that currently, over 4.7 million people are estimated to be faced with insecurity in the most crisis-affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, maintaining that the number could rise to 5.2 million between June and August if adequate measures were not put in place to address the situation.

It further revealed that additional 2500people had been displaced from Dikwa, Gwoza and Bama Local government areas during the reporting period.

As at April, UNHCR and the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) had registered a total of 260,000 people who returned from Cameroon, Niger Republic and Chad, out of who only three per cent were recorded as refugees in the countries of asylum, while 86 per cent were not registered, the report revealed.

According to the UN agency, the main reasons given by the refugee returnees are the need to participate in upcoming local elections, return to stability in areas of origin, resume economic activities as well as lack of food and water in their hosting areas.

There is the fear that recently released Boko Haram suspects may have been regrouping in the forest. Some human rights organisations and indeed Nigerians had criticised the swapping of Boko Haram suspects for abducted Chibok girls.

At the forefront of the criticism is the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA). The group flayed the recent claim of the release by so-called Boko Haram terrorists of 82 hitherto kidnapped Chibok school girls and the constant release from detentions of detained Boko Haram terror suspects by the military authorities without the office of the Federal Attorney General subjecting them to criminal prosecution over the four-year-long bombing campaigns that slaughtered over 30,000 innocent Nigerians.

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Ahua said this on Sunday in Banjul at the opening ceremony of a three-day ministerial meeting on the Adoption of the Regional Plan of Action to Eradicate Statelessness in West Africa.

She said that if urgent actions were not taken, some of the 2.4 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) or refugees residing neighbouring countries could lose their nationality and become stateless.

She explained that displacement, whether caused by conflicts or natural disasters, was a root cause of statelessness which further increases the risk, if not urgently and properly tackled.

She said that it could also become an obstacle to achieving durable solutions for displaced persons and prevent them from rebuilding their lives in dignity as well as impede return and relocation.

“The crises in the Lake Chad Basin region is a prime example where over 2.4 million people have been displaced by the conflict, including over 1.8 million IDPs in Nigeria

“Over 200,000 Nigerians are living as refugees in neighbouring countries of Niger, Chad, and Cameroon without adequate documentation.

“Before the crises, civil registration, including birth registration, were already low in the region and most of those displaced lack identity documents.

“This has created many challenges, including discerning between refugees and IDPs in local communities, impacting their access to protection and rights.

“In the longer term, this may hamper the achievement of durable solution for the displaced.’’

According to her, the link between issues of statelessness, sustaining peace and security in the region cannot be separated as statelessness can lead to insecurity and instability.

She explained that stateless persons, when they felt deserted, could easily be used as tools of destruction by insurgents and criminals in carrying our attacks and perpetuating other crimes.

Ahua commended Nigeria and Niger for their commitment in pushing for the Adoption of the Abuja Declaration on the Protection of the Lake Chad Basin in June 2016.

She said that the commitment of both countries gave impetus to the Abidjan Declaration in its engagement to reduce the risk of statelessness among the displaced populations.

The UNHCR Regional Representative further said that laudable efforts were under way to address documentation and nationality issues in the affected areas.

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Hanson Tamfu, External Relations Officer of UNHCR Nigeria, who made this known in a statement in Abuja on Friday, said that the Tripartite Agreement for the Voluntary Repatriation of Nigerian refugees living in Cameroon was signed on March 2, in Yaonde, Cameroon.

According to him, the agreement is a legal framework that sets out the modalities for the voluntary return of refugees to their country of origin in safety and dignity.

He said that more than 85,000 Nigerian refugees who fled the Boko Haram insurgency in North-East were currently living in the North Region of Cameroon with about 62,000 living in Minawao refugee camp.

Tamfu said that recent profiling exercise undertaken by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) also revealed more than 23,000 refugees residing in host communities.

He said that a UNHCR survey conducted in Minawao camp on the intentions of refugees to return back to Nigeria revealed that 71 per cent of the refugees (93,000) indicated their intentions to return.

The refugees, the official said, indicated that they would return when they were sure of the safety and conducive situation in their communities.

He said the UNHCR survey also reveals that there were thousands more Nigerians who fled the violence but have not been reached by aid agencies because of the prevailing insecurity in those areas.

He said that the Minister of Interior, retired Lt.- Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, described the agreement as a welcomed development which underscores the importance of working together to proofer lasting solutions to the refugees crises.

Tamfu said the minister said Nigeria remain committed to ensuring that it creates the conducive atmosphere to facilitate the return of its citizens in safety and dignity, in line with international protection principles.

He said that Emmanuel René Emmanuel, Cameroon’s Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, said that the Government of Cameroon would continue to ensure the safety of Nigerian refugees in its territory.

The official said René assured that the government of Cameroon would spare no effort to help those who wish to return to Nigeria, in accordance with international agreements.

Tamfu said both countries and the UNHCR agreed to provide people wishing to return with clear information on the situation prevailing in their areas of return particularly in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

He explained that this was in order to allow them to make a well informed and voluntary decision.

He said the refugees would be given correct information on the security and economic situation as well as access to basic services.

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Keeping refugees on the Syrian side of the border would help Brussels and Ankara, which hosts 2.7 million Syrian refugees, stem the flow of migrants to European shores. The U.N. has warned against the plan unless there was a way to guarantee the refugees’ safety in the war-torn state. Aid workers have opposed it.

The cessation of hostilities in Syria which began at the end of February and was sponsored by Russia and the United States to allow for peace talks, has since faltered. The opposition, which walked out of negotiations in Geneva said the truce, which excluded powerful jihadist groups such as Islamic State and the Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s branch in Syria, was no longer in place.

At a news conference in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, Merkel called for “zones where the ceasefire is particularly enforced and where a significant level of security can be guaranteed.”

As tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the fighting in Syria are unable to cross into Turkey, and instead are camped near the Azaz border crossing where local agencies offer humanitarian support, some have accused Turkey of stealthily forming such a zone.

The EU-Turkey agreement to send back thousands of migrants from the Greek islands to Turkey has also been fiercely criticised by United Nations refugee and human rights agencies, as immoral and a violation of international humanitarian law. Rights groups say Turkey is not a country where returnees can be guaranteed proper protection.

The agreement, coupled with border closures in Europe that meant smugglers could not secure passage to northern Europe, initially slowed the numbers of new arrivals to Greece.

But boats have been arriving with about 150 people a day, indicating the “hermetic sealing” of the route appears to be over, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.

One side of the bargain, used to sell the migrant deal to the Turkish public, was Turks winning quicker visa-free travel to Europe, a pledge that now could go unfulfilled, at least by the June deadline Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had wanted.

On Saturday Davutoglu said there would be no more readmissions if visa liberalisation was not enacted, but that he believed the EU would take the necessary steps.

“We have said that Turkey naturally must fulfil the conditions, these are 72 projects that must be implemented,” Merkel said. “My aim is that we stick to those understandings. Provided that Turkey delivers the relevant results.”

Davutoglu, Merkel, EU Council President Donald Tusk and Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans visited a refugee camp in Nizip and the inauguration of a child protection centre in Gaziantep.

Following comments from a Turkish officials that there were problems in releasing the 3 billion euros ($3.37 billion)promised to Turkey to look after refugees, Tusk said access to the funds was being accelerated.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrian children in Turkey have no access to education. Davutoglu said Turkey had met all its responsibilities, including giving refugees the right to work.

But a work permit scheme for refugees designed to protect them from exploitation has been slow to gain traction, with many Syrians unable to apply without the support of their bosses.

Yet Tusk on Saturday praised Turkey as a refugee host.

“Today Turkey is the best example in the entire world of how to treat refugees. I am proud that we are partners. There is no other way,” he said.

Amnesty International has said Syrians are being shot at trying to enter Turkey while others are being deported to Syria against their will, a claim Davutoglu refuted on Saturday.

“While Turkey and Europe haggle over long standing political battles like visa free travel, refugees continue to suffer with little chance of protection in Europe and serious violations against them in Turkey,” said Gauri van Gulik, deputy Europe director at Amnesty International.

“All states have a duty to protect refugees that can’t be traded away for political expediency.”

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Chairman of the chapter, retired Air Vice Marshall Muhammad Audu-Bida said this in Abuja on Tuesday while disclosing the outcome of a pancake meeting of the executive board of the society which held on Monday.

Audu-Bida said the board members considered the worsening humanitarian situation in the North East Nigeria as well as adjoining states and neighbouring countries and concluded that it was time that all be set aside to wrest the area from rampaging insurgents and restore peace.

According to him, figures from local and international agencies like National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Human Rights Watch, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and Internally Displaced Monitoring Centre (IDMC) reveal mounting intolerable number of Nigerians are both displaced or are refugees in neighbouring countries.

He noted that as at March this year, close to four million Nigerians were displaced while over 100,000 were recorded as sheltering in refugee camps in Niger, Chad and Cameroun.

Audu-Bida declared that this cannot be allowed to continue because humanitarian aid agencies are unable to reach these displaced people for fear of being attacked or kidnapped by terrorists who have no respect for rules of engagement in their operations.

“As a former military general myself, I am aware that our military is capable to quelling this insurgency because they have the training, courage and equipment to accomplish the task of securing the country’s territory but they should be allowed by political authorities to carry out their duties unfettered by political, ethnic or religious coloration and or sentiments.”

He lamented that the insurgency has been allowed to fester for too long and things have got out of hand especially with the recent sacking of the Police mobile training institution in Gwoza, Borno State. With this, the insurgents will become more emboldened unless decisive action is taken immediately to wipe them out.

“For the good of millions of Nigerians, the military should take decisive action now to stop further displacement of Nigerians, destruction of farmlands, lives and property as well as occupying our territory, a situation which has become very embarrassing to Nigerians, government and the armed forces.”

While sympathising with parents and relatives of the abducted Chibok secondary school girls and other abducted Nigerians, the TIEMS Chairman said “reportedly, parents of the girls have patriotically called on the Federal Government not to allow boko haram insurgents to use the girls as human shields to continue to wreck havoc on the country.”

He noted that fighting insurgency and restoring peace have never been a piece of cake in any clime and cited the instance of the United States of America which refused to yield to Islamic State terrorists who demanded ransom in exchange for the American captured journalist but rather continued to rain heavy sorties on the insurgents in Northern Iraq.

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