According to the The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Antonio Jose Canhandula, No fewer than 15,000 Nigerians have fled to neighbouring Cameroon and Chad following recent attacks by Boko Haram insurgents in some North-east states.
He disclosed this while speaking in Abuja Friday, at the pre-conference press briefing on the second regional protection dialogue on the Lake Chad Basin.
According to him “What is happening in the Lake Chad area remains a protection concern not only for us but also for the countries that have been hosting Nigerian refugees; that is Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
“If you have followed events lately in the last three weeks, there have been heightened security problems in Badakawa which have resulted in another 6,000 Nigerian refugees fleeing into Chad.
“There have also been security problems in Rann and that resulted in 9,000 Nigerians running into Cameroon. These situations have come to reinforce the need for us to sit again and see if, in the face of protection challenges for IDPs and refugees, we have been doing a good job or can do better,” he said.
