Governor Babagana Zulum has closed Muna Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Maiduguri, which houses over 11,000 people.
Muna IDP camp is one of the largest camps located in the state at the height of the humanitarian crisis caused by insurgency that has lasted years.
Governor Zulum, while announcing the closure of the camp, cited high-level illicit activities in the camp as the major reason for the closure.
The governor said, “We have observed that in the IDP camp there is increased level of prostitution, gangsterism, cases of child abuse and other criminalities.”
He added that Boko Haram can never be eradicated without resettlement taking place, saying that people have to go back to their homes and earn their livelihood.
Zulum had four years ago announced that all the 12 formal IDP camps in the state capital, Maiduguri, would be shut down, which he did, except the two informal camps.
He stated that the state government had in 2024 resettled about 75 per cent of the IDPs in Muna camp, and the remaining 25 per cent will return to their ancestral localities in the next few days.
According to the governor, each of the 6,000 households in the camp will receive food aid, shelter materials and access to health care services as part of the resettlement process.
He also announced that each head of a household (male or female) will receive N100,000, and an additional N50,000 will be given to all the housewives.
