The Nigerian government has concluded plans to repatriate about 17,000 Nigerians who have taken refuge in its eastern neighbor Cameroon since 2001, the Punch daily reported Tuesday.

The Nigerian National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said in a statement the refugees were expected back in Nigeria by the first week of February.

The refugees, comprising largest of Fulani cattle herdsmen and the native Mambilas, fled to Cameroon as a result of series of ethno-communal conflicts, which engulfed the Mambila Plateau areasof the eastern Nigerian state of Taraba four years ago.

More than 100 people were killed in the conflicts.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees and the Cameroonian authority there after granted them refugee status. And the Nigerian government established a special committee last year to facilitate their repatriation.

The Punch daily said that the Taraba State Resettlement Committee is working with the special committee to ensure the success of the exercise and has designated four centers for the reception of the returnees.

The centers are provided with facilities such as toilets, bathrooms, meeting halls, electricity and water, the daily added.

Source: Xinhua