Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu has commended President Bola Tinubu for signing the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), also known as the Kampala Convention, into law.

Kalu, in a statement by his chief press secretary, Levinus Nwabughiogu, said Tinubu has, by assenting to the bill, given a human face to the suffering of internally displaced persons (IDPs), demonstrating his commitment to addressing their plight.

Titled, “Act to Give Effect to the Provisions of the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria and for Related Matters”, the bill, which received presidential assent in February 2026, stands in the name of Kalu as the lead sponsor with Hon. Jonathan Gaza Gbefwi, Hon. Khadijat Bukar Ibrahim, Hon. Blessing Onuh, Hon. Nasiru Shehu, Hon. Felix Uche Nwaeke and Hon. Steve Fatoba, as co-sponsors.

The piece of legislation previously passed by both chambers of the National Assembly, the Senate and the House of Representatives, ultimately seeks to domesticate and enforce in Nigeria the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons.

It also seeks to eliminate the root causes of internal displacement in Nigeria in line with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and other relevant laws and international instruments to which Nigeria is a party.

LEADERSHIP recalls that Nigeria, alongside 32 other African Union members, launched the ratification process during the Kampala Convention in 2009.

The countries included Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Congo, Djibouti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Mali, Malawi, Mozambique, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Rwanda, Saharawi Arab Republic, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, eSwatini, Togo, Rwanda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The objectives of the legislation are to provide a legal and institutional framework for the prevention, mitigation and elimination of root causes of internal displacement; make provision for the protection, assistance and durable solutions for internally displaced persons in Nigeria; ensure the protection of the human rights of internally displaced persons in line with the provisions of the Constitution.