Zulum visits Chadian president, seeks repatriation of Borno refugees 

Babagana Zulum, governor of Borno state, has visited Chadian President Idriss Debby to seek support in the repatriation of Borno refugees in the country. 

Thousands of Borno residents displaced by Boko Haram insurgents had fled to Chad for safety. 

Zulum, who was in the company of Zannah Umar Bukar Kolo, Nigerian ambassador to Chad, on Wednesday met with Debby at the presidential palace in N’Djamena. 

The governor said he had come to thank the Chadian government, after he had gone round to see the refugees.  

“I am here in Chad to see our people currently taking refuge at the Darsalam camp in Baga Sola. We met them yesterday,” he said.  

“Our people are doing very well, the government of Chad is taking care of them. So I am here to express appreciation to the president for his generosity towards our people here in Chad. We have also discussed how we can voluntarily repatriate our people back to Nigeria. 

“Basically we are here for three things: meet our people, thank the government of Chad, and intensify collaborative efforts to repatriate those who are willing to be safely resettled in different parts of Borno.”

Zulum, who had earlier crossed over the Lake Chad to the refugee camp in Baga Sola to interact with citizens, supervised distribution of N50 million to 5,000 families. 

In a statement, Isa Gusau, the governor’s spokesman, said most of the displaced families hail from different parts of Kukawa local government in which the commercial town of Baga is located.

Other families, he said, fled local government areas in northern Borno and some extreme portions of Borno central located around the border with Cameroon through which Chad is accessed by land. 

Zulum, Gusau said, was in Chad back in January to meet commanders of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) over fight against Boko Haram. 

He said Zulum had visited Cameroon and Niger Republic at different times to meet Borno citizens taking refuge in the three neighbouring countries with land boarders connecting Borno from different angles.