The European Union has opened a transit camp for migrants and Internally Displaced Persons in Lagos to aid rehabilitation and reintegration.
The project, which was located on the premises of the Lagos State Relief and Resettlement Camp in Igando, was implemented by the International Organisation for Migration and would be managed by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency.
The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at the launching of the camp, said the IOM would provide the services needed at the camp and upgrade the facilities.
Sanwo-Olu, who was represented at the event by the Commissioner for Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations, Tayo Bamgbose-Martins, said efforts are ongoing to establish a third relief camp in Ibeju-Lekki as part of measures to make the reintegration of migrants and IDPs in the state easier.
The National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim, who described the transit camp as the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa, said it marked a new chapter in the care of displaced persons.
The Director-General of LASEMA, Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, said the camp would reinforce IOM and Nigeria’s capacity to help the most vulnerable, and also enforce the message on the dangers of irregular migration.
