Hussaini Ibrahim 
BORNO, Nigeria – Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum has ordered the immediate closure of the Bama Internally Displaced Persons camp, the largest displacement facility outside Maiduguri, as part of efforts to end prolonged displacement and accelerate community resettlement.
Zulum announced the decision on Thursday during an assessment visit to the Government Secondary School IDP camp in Gwoza.
The governor said screening exercises had been completed in Bama and that the camp would be shut by midday.
“We visited Bama yesterday and supervised the screening of IDPs, and by 12 noon, Bama IDP camp should be closed,” Zulum said.
“Today we are here in Gwoza, we have profiled all of them, and Insha Allah, in the next two or three weeks this camp will also be closed.”
The governor said improved security conditions in several communities previously occupied by Boko Haram insurgents had made resettlement possible.
He noted that his administration had resettled residents in communities including Darajamal, Nguro Soye, Goniri, Banki, Abbaram, Ngoshe, Kirawa and Warabe.
Zulum also raised concerns over growing criminal activities within some displacement camps.
“In our camps now, there is ongoing criminality. We have identified all of them, and they will be resettled based on their localities and community heads,” he said.
“Otherwise, Boko Haram and ISWAP are gradually infiltrating the camps.”
The governor further alleged that the government had discovered increasing numbers of “fake IDPs” who reportedly return to camps to access humanitarian assistance.
He said the findings emerged during ongoing screening exercises and argued that maintaining the camps under such conditions had become unsustainable.
The Gwoza camp is expected to become the next major camp to close within weeks.
Borno State remains the epicentre of Nigeria’s insurgency crisis, with thousands of residents displaced by years of attacks linked to Boko Haram and ISWAP.
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Edino Chubiyo Cornelius 
Oluwatobi Adu 