By Solomon Odeniyi
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said at least 500, 700 Nigerians were newly displaced in 2021.
The UN refugee agency also said a total of 1.6 million people were newly displaced in the West and Central African region.
The agency specifically attributed this to the conflict in Burkina Faso and the insecurity in Nigeria.
The commission, however, noted that the number of displaced people in the country had been on the rise since 2018.
These were contained in a report titled, ‘Global trends forced displacement in 2021,’ released by UNHCR on June 17, 2022.
Part of the report read, “In the West and Central African region, there were 1.6 million new displacements in 2021. These increased movements were mainly driven by the escalating conflict in Burkina Faso and Nigeria, where fighting continued between government forces and non-state armed groups.
“In Nigeria, displacement has been growing rapidly since 2018 with 500, 700 people newly displaced in 2021.”
The report added that Cameroon and Chad played host to 68 per cent of the 1.5 million refugees in the West and Central African region.