Restoring hope of the internally displaced in Nigeria

It is often said that when two elephants fight, the grass suffers. This is absolutely true in a war or conflict situation as vulnerable members of the society – the aged, women and children – usually bear the impact. These groups of people are dislodged from their homes, often made to put up with harsh and unhygienic living conditions. Aside from the unfriendly weather and insanitary environment, there is also the issue of psychological trauma the internally displaced face on a daily basis. The emotional distress stems from the fact that they have to wait on their fellow beings before they can get essential and basic necessities of life such as feeding, clothing and shelter.

According to available report by the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre for the period between 1st July and 30th September 2015, the latest global figures for 2014 show that 17.5 million people were forced to flee their homes due to reasons ranging from violence to natural disasters like flooding, earthquake, storm, etc.

Back home in Nigeria, long before the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents became pronounced in the north-eastern part of the country, inter-communal clashes had contributed immensely to the proliferation of internally displaced people. Escalating communal clashes in different parts of the country have resulted in many people fleeing their homes and property. Clashes between farmers and herdsmen over grazing lands in states such as Benue, Taraba, Zamfara and parts of Kaduna have left a bloody trail, with its attendant destruction of property, farmlands and whole communities. Earlier this year, the fishing and farming communities of Ologba and Egba in Agatu LGA of Benue State, North Central Nigeria, had a conflict over rights to fishing in a pond. This clash left scores of people dead, while many fled their homes.  

Also, many of the victims of flooding caused by heavy rainfall across the country are yet to be provided permanent place of residence. Flooding in 2012 alone displaced over 2 million people, according to NEMA. With more than 3.3 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), Nigeria has the largest population of persons displaced by conflict in Africa and 10 percent of IDPs in the world. But by far the worst culprit responsible for the continuous growth in the army of the internally displaced in the country is the Boko Haram insurgency. Since 2009 when the insurgents started rearing their heads, a large number of people have been killed, maimed, abducted, displaced, raped and forcibly recruited. Raids have been carried out in communities and able-bodied men have been killed, young women and girls abducted, while children and old people left homeless after their homes were razed.

According to the United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (UNOCHA), 30,000 people in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states – 70 percent of them women and children – have fled their homes since early 2013. And in March 2014, residents of Mafa village in Borno State fled their homes after receiving letters from the insurgents warning them of impending attacks. And true to their threat, the insurgents attacked the village but met only the aged and those too weak to flee. In that year alone, thousands of civilians were murdered in cold blood, while some homes were taken and turned into their hideouts or arms depots.

Another factor responsible for the increase in the number of IDPs is violent clashes between government forces and armed groups in the north of Nigeria which have triggered large waves of displacement. More than half a million civilians have been internally displaced in 2014, while others have sought safety in neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger. These heavy-handed counter-insurgency operations as well as reprisal attacks on communities accused of sheltering the insurgents by the armed forces have contributed in no small measure to the increase in number of displaced persons in the country.

The humanitarian crisis resulting from this internal conflict shows no sign of abating and it has been carried over to 2015. Therefore, in the face of the myriad of challenges facing these groups of people, it is of utmost importance that we show good neighbourliness and empathy towards integrating them back into normal life.

Viewing insurgency and natural disasters as hardships that leave traumatic experiences on the victims, the Lagos State Government recently donated a sum of N50 million each to Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States to assist them in the rehabilitation of IDPs in their domains. In the same vein, the Australian government acknowledges the difficult conditions faced by persons forced to leave their homes as a result of the on-going instability in the North-East and has in the past year alone provided over N19.5 million to a number of projects across the country to assist those in need. One of such projects, called the “Humanitarian Aid for Boko Haram Internally Displaced People in New Kuchingoro”, was organised in partnership with the Society for Africa Education, Economic and Social Cultural Development and the Bridge Initiative for African Development (BIFAD). This project brought to the camp four new toilets, solar-powered lighting and signage, an upgrade of existing borehole machinery to solar power and the construction of semi-permanent classroom structures for 240 children and supply of exercise books, uniforms, desks and chairs needed for the pupils to learn effectively.

It is as a result of the aforementioned and other sundry gestures that the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, implored governments of the states affected to disburse the funds earmarked for the welfare and rehabilitation of the victims of violence judiciously. As a show of solidarity, Olisa Metuh, national publicity secretary of the People’s Democratic Party, recently celebrated his birthday with the IDPs. This is another step that can be taken to give the latter a sense of belonging.

While commending President Buhari’s renewed commitment to bringing the activities of the insurgents to an end by the end of the year, it is imperative that all hands be on deck to bring into fruition this all-important order. We must not also fail to commend various security agencies for their sacrifice, courage and gallantry in ensuring that the directives of Mr. President and indeed the wishes of all Nigerians are achieved. Machinery must be put in place to make it a reality through effective intelligence gathering, provision of state-of-the-art fighting equipment as well as collaborations with other countries, since terrorism has become a global concern.

BILKIS BAKARE