Far North Governor, Midjiyawa Bakari said in a statement on Wednesday, April 17, 2019 that refugees at the Minawao Camp have voluntarily opted to return home and both countries are working closely in collaboration of other stakeholders to make this dream come true.

"We have agreed with the Nigerian government that 4,000 refugees from Adamawa state in Nigeria will be returned.

"They are the first ones to return but the process will continue after that," Bakari told journalists.

According to him, they will return by air, while Cameroon will provide the security from the refugee camp to the airport.

"We (Nigeria and Cameroon) are discussing how we will do with their children that have been going to school here and the property they have obtained here," he said.

Officials said that the majority of the refugees at the camp are from Borno state in Nigeria and would be staying. But those from Adamawa asked to be taken home because "there is calm and security there".

In early April, Cameroon assisted 40,000 out of about 60,000 Nigerians who fled into Cameroon before Nigeria's February elections to return home.

Minawao refugee camp was established in 2012, 56 miles from Nigerian border - refugees fleeing Boko Haram in Nigeria and internally displaced Cameroonians fled here and is administered by UNHCR (also caused by Lake Chad crisis) and hosts over 57,000 Nigerian refugees according to UN figures.

This refugee camp has been the focus of much international aid. Organisations like Plan have set up schools in the camp providing necessary hygiene information like digging latrines.

Camp residents are employed as much as possible in things like building work to give them a source of income.

Refugees in the camp rely on aid for food supplies which are given out with the use of ID cards- each ID card clearly states the number of people in a family and rations are provided accordingly. European humanitarian experts personally visit, and monitor aid projects funded by the EU to ensure the aid is going to the people who really need it.