The about 200,000 Borno State refugees in neighbouring Niger Republic, who left their homes on the heels of Boko Haram insurgency in 2014, may be repatriated in May.

The State Governor, Babagana Umara Zulum, announced this on Tuesday, at Malam-Fatori, Abadam Local Government Area, headquarters of the Nigeria/Niger Republic border.

The refugees are currently in neighboring Bosso, Tumur and Diffa, all in the Republic of Niger.

Governor Zulum said he was at Malam-Fatori to see for himself the clearance process in the town, and to also offer support to the military ahead of his May 2023 target for safe and voluntary return of refugees from the neighbouring Francophone country to their ancestral community.

“We want the people to return next month (May) for normal activities to return to this part of the state, insha’Allah. We will give all the necessary support to the Nigerian military to make sure that this objective is achieved, insha’Allah,” he declared.

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“We call on our people to be resilient and give maximum cooperation to the security operatives working to restore normalcy”, Zulum said during his interaction with the Commanding Officer of 68 battalion, Malam-Fatori, Col. A. Onyeukwu.

Zulum was accompanied by the House of Reps-elect for Marte, Monguno and Nganzai, Engr. Bukar Talba, Commissioner for Local Government and Emirates Affairs, Sugun Mai Mele, Transition Council Chairman of Abadam and some prominent indigenes of Abadam.