Moses Ofodeme
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR, on Friday, confirmed
fire incident that ripped through an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Borno State, razing it to the ground.
The incident occurred on Friday, May 29, 2020.
Several hundreds inmates have been left without shelter after the fire swept through the refugee camp.
The camp is located in Maidugiri, the Borno State capital.
The incident occurred on the eve of the Muslim festival of Eid-al-Fitr; at the makeshift camp which hosts about 40,000 IDPs in Maiduguri.
”The fire began after sparks from a cooking fireplace spread out and ignited a fire; which soon engulfed shelters all around the camp. Houses were razed to the ground and damaged other facilities,” the statement revealed.
The agency disclosed that it is working with all humanitarian partners to assist the refugees as well as those who lost all their belongings.
Also, it disclosed that the majority of those affected by the fire were women.
Nigeria has long contended with an escalating refugee problem escalated by the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East.
Some 2.5 million people are displaced across the Lake Chad region, including some 1.8 million inside Nigeria; with the rest in Cameroon and Chad.
UNHCR added that with the ongoing violence in the region, thousands of people have to run for their lives each day.
”Young girls, old women and aid workers continue to bear the brunt of this escalating violence,” it said.
Boko Haram has waged a long-running insurgency against the Nigerian government. The insurgency, which has spanned over a decade, has led to the deaths of thousands, resulting in the displacement of millions of people in the North East.