In Nigeria, Mubi is known as the city of peace; half of the population is Christian, the other half Muslim. It has now become home to 100,000 Boko Haram refugees.
The city of Mubi is strategically located close to the Yedseram river, 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Cameroon’s northern border. It is a place bustling with energy and activity: the old trade metropolis is one of three cities in Nigeria with the fastest economic growth.
In October 2014, the city, with a population of 200,000 inhabitants, was overrun by Boko Haram militants. Forty days later, the Nigerian military recaptured Mubi. The residents returned and many of them opened their homes to refugees. More than 100,000 people from Borno and other municipalities around the Sambisi forest have come to stay in the city.
On the border road to Cameroon, engines of loaded trucks are running, small shops have cropped up along the route. Algoni Ibrahim, who is 23, originally comes from Banki, some 200 kilometers north of Mubi. When Boko Haram occupied the border town three years ago, he ran for his life across the border to Cameroon. After two years in the refugee camp, he heard about the chance to work in Mubi and returned to Nigeria.
Picking up the pieces
A little further along the road towards Cameroon is a disused brick factory which has been turned into the Mubi transit camp. Men sleep in the production hall, whereas women and children shelter in five plastic huts.
The camp should have been closed long ago, but now 80,000 refugees, who had previously taken refuge in Cameroon, are being repatriated via the transit camp. Nigeria, Cameroon and the UN agency for refugees, UNHCR, agreed in March to return the Nigerian refugees. More huts are now being erected on the neighboring site. Most of the registered refugees have found work in Mubi. They live with relatives or families who have willingly opened their doors. In the villages surrounding Mubi, land belonging to the chiefs has been given to the refugees so they can begin to rebuild their lives. Many businessmen have also given land to the refugees.
“If the security situation permits, all refugees would like to return immediately to their home villages,” Safratu Ayuba, spokesman for the refugees in the transit camp.
The camp is managed and protected by the Nigerian military. Mohamed Buba Hakim returned a few days ago from Cameroon with some 130 other refugees. “Everyone wants to return,” the 36-year-old administrative employee said. The military had promised to secure the roads after the end of Ramadan.
Life for refugees in Mubi
In the center of the town, on the first floor of a commercial building, is the office of the local chamber of commerce. Mubi is growing at a tremendous pace since businessmen from the northern districts of Gwoza, Bama and Maidagali relocated there due to the difficult security situation in the north. Many of the roads in the north remain unsafe. Mubi, on the other hand, has a secure route to Cameroon and to the south.
Source: Reliefweb. Read full information.
3 July, 2017
