By EricJames Ochigbo
A Civil Society Organisation (CSO), TAF-Africa, has urged Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to participate in the 2027 elections and make their voices heard.
Mr Terfa Tyokase, Senior Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, TAF-Africa, made the call in an interview with newsmen in Abuja on Friday.
He spoke on the sidelines of a voter education outreach titled “Able2Vote Sensitisation Programme on the INEC IDP”.
Tyokase said although IDPs had been displaced from their communities, the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) had established special arrangements for their participation in elections.
“If a decision is to be taken in their ancestral home today, they will not be involved in that, their voices have been silenced.
“Being displaced does not mean that their voices should be silenced for the second time in this democracy,” he said.
Tyokase urged them to come out on election day, participate, exercise their rights and be part of the electoral process.
Also speaking, Mr George Anwayi, Assistant Programme Manager at TAF-Africa, said the outreach was designed to educate IDPs on their voting rights.
Anwayi said displaced persons remained citizens with the right to participate in elections, subject to applicable electoral requirements.
He said TAF-Africa had mobilised IDPs in Wassa community to register, adding that attention was now focussed on preparing them for the 2027 elections.
He called on government agencies and development partners to support IDPs, stressing that TAF-Africa alone could not meet their needs.
“We call on government to pay attention to IDPs and the challenges they face. Some of them have lost loved ones and breadwinners,” he said.
Anwayi called for humanitarian support, economic empowerment and skills acquisition to enable displaced persons to become self-reliant.
“There is also need for sanitation and hygiene, access to healthcare and education for the children,” he said.
He said improved access to essential services would help create conditions for IDPs to participate fully in civic activities.
Mr Geoffrey Bitrus, Chairman of the Wassa IDP Camp, commended TAF-Africa for the voter education initiative.
Bitrus said 7,776 people in the camp had been displaced from several states since 2014 due to insecurity.
He listed Borno, Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa, Benue and Adamawa, Katsina, Zamfara and Niger among the states.
He called for more support for IDPs, particularly women and children, to enable them to live normal lives and compete with their peers elsewhere.
Source: News Agency of Nigeria