The Borno state command
of the Nigeria police force says it will soon take over the daily running of
internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in the state.
News
Agency of Nigeria report continues:
Damian
Chukwu, commissioner of police in the state, told NAN on Sunday said that 100
female policemen had been deployed to camps, while male officers were also
providing cover.
He
said steps were being taken to ensure the protection of IDPs following
allegation of abuse of women by camp officials.
The
Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental organization, had alleged mass abuse of
girls and women by camp officials in its latest report.
He
said he had also constituted a high powered committee to oversee the running of
the camps.
“I
have constituted a committee, led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police in
charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), with Divisional Police
Officers (DPO) and other senior officers, to take over the daily running of the
camps,” he said.
“It
is interesting to say that most members of the committee are females.
“I
have also mobilized over 100 women police from different divisions, including
mobile police women, to handle day-to-day interaction in the camps.
“The
male officers will be limited to handling of the territorial coverage and
patrol with in the camps.”
He
said that the objective was to further secure the camps and give confidence to
the thousands of women in the IDP camps.
“The
deployment of women police is also to dig out true happenings in the camps regarding
the allegation,” he said.
“We
feel that the victims might not want to talk freely to men, but they will be
encouraged to open up to women policemen if the allegation is true.”
He
said prior to the alarm raised by the human rights organization, the police had
not received any complaint on the alleged abuse.
“We
have not received any complaint on any case of human rights abuse in the camps,
so the whole thing appear strange to me; in each of the camps, we have many
police outpost,” he said.
“In
Bakassi camp for instance, we have five police units because every local
government area in the IDP camp has its DPO and other policemen, with all the
complement of law enforcement.
He expressed the belief that the police investigation would “unravel the truth of the matter once and for all”.
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