Introduction
Although there is no strict legal
definition as there is for a refugee but
the United Nations Report - Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement
defines an Internally
displaced people/persons (also referred to as DPRE in many civil and military
parlance) as people or groups of people who have been forced or obliged to escape
or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result
of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of
generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made
disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border.
Please note that an internally displaced person (IDP) should not
to be confused with the term "displaced
person," which may encompass both internally displaced persons
and refugees. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) asserts that
internally displaced persons or IDPs as they are sometimes referred to are
among the world’s most vulnerable or defenseless people. According to the
UNHCR, by the end of 2014, a record-breaking 38 million people were
forcibly displaced within their own country by violence.
Boko Haram Effect: Internally
Displaced Persons, Camps in Nigeria
Amnesty International estimates that at least 17,000 people have been killed since Boko Haram escalated its insurgency in northern
Nigeria in 2009. Sequel to intermittent Boko Haram attacks on Borno towns, villages
(Gwoza, Damboa, Askira Uba, Damboa and Chibok), Adamawa (Madagali, Mubi, Gulak,
Basa, Shua, and Michika), and Yobe and
pockets of communal violence in parts of Taraba, Plateau states, millions of
Nigerians have fled their homes and manage to eke out a living in IDP Camps.
Figures released by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
(IDMC), an offshoot of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), an
independent, non-governmental humanitarian organization as of April 2015, ‘’estimated that about 1,538,982 people that fled
their homes in Nigeria were still living in internal displacement camps
scattered across Nigeria. In its ‘Global Overview 2014 report’, the Internal
Displaced Monitoring Centre (IDMC) posited that Nigeria has Africa’s highest
number of persons displaced by Conflict, ranking behind Syria and Colombia.
The aforesaid figure comprises people displaced as a
result of fierce attacks by Boko Haram militants in north-eastern Nigeria, the
government-led counterinsurgency operations against the group, sporadic
inter-communal clashes and natural hazard-induced disasters’’ and also includes
the additional 47, 276 IDPs in Plateau, Nasarawa, Abuja (FCT), Kano and Kaduna
which was collated by Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in
February 2015 (IOM/NEMA, February 2015). According to Relief
Web, the influx of IDPs into Yola metropolis compelled the Adamawa
State Emergency Management Agency (ADSEMA) to open IDP camps at Children's home
Karewa, NYSC orientation camp in Girei LGA to accommodate the increasing number
of IDPs.
Concern Over Purported Disbandment
of IDP Camps
Inter-alia, a report credited to NEMA (National Emergency Management Agency) to the effect
that ‘’90% Of IDP Camps have been closed down’’ is worrying and prompted this
writer to pen this piece. The Director General of the NEMA, Mohammad Sani-Sidi
was quoted as saying that, ‘’with the successes so far recorded by the military
in the Boko Haram war in the north-eastern part of Nigeria, more Internally
Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps have been collapsed and closed down’’.
The
above statement is disturbing because literarily speaking; no single day passes
without a town, community or village in North-Eastern Nigeria been attacked by
Boko Haram militants. To cite some recent random instances,
on Friday 24/07/2015, gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram militants stormed
three villages - Kopa, Maikadire, and
Yaffa) in Adamawa State on motorcycles killing at least 25 people. A while ago,
Boko Haram militants attacked a Borno
village, killing 18 and torched several houses.
Granted Boko Haram no longer occupies swathes of Nigerian territory as they
used to few months ago but their recent sporadic suicide bombing campaigns and
pockets of attacks on villages, places of worship and markets is a pointer that
the Sect has reverted its tactics to its erstwhile asymmetrical or guerrilla
warfare which is much more difficult to rein in.
Question
is: were the internally displaced persons (IDPs) ejected from the IDP Camps or
did they leave on their own volition? If they were coaxed into going back to
their homes, did the authorities carry out risk assessments, security mapping
to determine the possibility of further attacks on them by Boko Haram? How safe
are the enclaves they are returning to?
Exploitation of
Internally Displaced Persons:
There are concerns, allegations that internally displaced persons
and IDP camps in Nigeria have become a cash cow to unscrupulous government
officials and their collaborators. In his open memo to Nigeria’s Vice President – Professor Yemi Osinbajo on the
deplorable conditions of Internally Displaced Persons across 17 camps in Borno
State, Mr. Kayode Ogundamisi chronicled how whistleblowers working directly
with internally displaced persons furnished him with details of exploitation, malfeasance,
corruption (exaggeration of numbers of the IDPs, misappropriation of funds
meant for IDPs for personal aggrandizement), and diversion of food, other items
meant for the IDPs amongst others. He contends that IDPs are usually lodged in overcrowded secondary school premises
or dilapidated buildings with no potable water, mosquito nets, no electricity, protection
from the harsh environmental conditions – with temperatures of about 37 degrees
Celsius, and worst still, the camps lack adequate security.
Mr. Kayode Ogundamisi recommends building of permanent structures or
rugged tents for the IDPs, improving the quality of food and healthcare/psychological
support provided to IDPs, ensuring that education is available, reining in drug
addiction/prostitution, ensuring that the IDP Camps are safe and very
importantly, to investigate funds and remittances disbursed to IDP Camps.
Channels Television also reported
that displaced persons at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in the
Durumi area of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, say they have been abandoned by the
government. The displaced persons say ‘’the government has not lived up to its
responsibility and that agencies of government had been making life more
difficult for them, raiding, extorting and threatening them with eviction’’.
Also citing a report from the International Centre for
Investigative Reporting, Leadership
Newspaper editorial corroborates the twin evils
of child trafficking and rape being perpetrated in internally displaced persons
(IDP) camps in Nigeria. The newspaper echoes that the 2003 Trafficking in
Persons Law Enforcement and Administration Act as amended in 2005 and the Child
Rights Act criminalizes the aforesaid criminal acts and calls on relevant
government agencies to prosecute culprits.
Health Crises in IDP
Camps:
Ratidzai Ndhlovu, UNFPA Country Representative postulates that the
number of births recorded among internally displaced persons in Nigeria would
hit 60,000 by the end of 2015. UNICEF’s April 2015 report titled ‘Missing
Childhoods’ succinctly posited how children in the IDP camps showed an 18%
threshold of malnutrition, higher than a global emergency threshold of 15%. And
since the IDP camps are ill-equipped and unhygienic at best, malaria, typhoid
fever, cholera, measles, STDs and even HIV amongst others are said to be
rampart in the camps. As is always
the case, victims of Boko Haram insurgency will certainly be traumatized and
will need a lot of help, counseling and medical attention. The priority needs
remain around food, health, protection, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH)
activities in host communities’ hence humanitarian partners are calling for urgent
action to alleviate the suffering of internally displaced persons in Nigeria.
Clarion Call To Humanitarian
Aid Organizations, NGOs
Internally
Displaced Persons in Nigeria deserve succor and a better deal. This is calling on international and local humanitarian aid
organizations, NGOs such as the World Health Organization (WHO), World Food
Programme, UNHCR, United Nation’s Population Fund (UNFPA), UNICEF, International
Medical Corps, Oxfam, USAID, DFID, Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation
Programme (NSRP), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Danish Refugee Council, Muslim
Aid, International Islamic Relief Organization, Hedayah, Muslims Without Borders, Doctors
Without Borders, Save the Children International, PLAN, International Committee
of the Red Cross, Safer Edge, Safer World, Action Against Hunger, Unlimited Partnership, CARE, National Christian Foundation, Catholic Relief Services, the
Christian Rural and Urban Development Association of Nigeria (CRUDAN),
Development Exchange Centre (DEC), Women Peace and Security Network amongst
others, to assist internally displaced persons in Nigeria in any way they can
if they are yet to get involved while also imploring institutions with the
expertise in Peacebuilding, Countering Violent Extremism (CVE),
de-radicalization, re-training and rehabilitation of genuinely repentant extremists
to actively get involved. We profoundly appreciate the NGOs, Aid agencies
already on ground and we call on others to please get involved.
We immensely appreciate the sacrifices and resilience of the Nigerian
military, security agencies in the fight against Boko Haram. A clarion goes out
to the security agencies to ensure adequate security/safety for NGOs, Social
workers and individuals who risk their lives rendering humanitarian services in
the hotbeds of Boko Haram beastly attacks.
Will The Committee on Victims
Support Fund Please Stand Up?
In July 2014, former President Jonathan
inaugurated a T.Y Danjuma-led Committee
on Victims Support Fund (CVSF) which is formally registered as the Nigeria
Foundation for Support of Victims of Terrorism LTD/GTE. The CVSF reportedly
raised the sum of N80 billion
during a presidential fund-raising event on July 31, 2014. This Committee is
mandated to provide succor to victims of terror in Nigeria but curiously, the
Victims’ Support Fund is purportedly registered as a company limited by
guarantee. As if it is in coma, nothing much is heard of/from the Victims
Support Fund with regards to ensuring that the
generated funds reach victims of terror that actually that need them. President
Buhari’s administration is hereby implored to clarify the legal status of the
Committee on Victims Support Fund (CVSF) and obligate the Committee to transparently,
judiciously and urgently disburse accumulated funds under its charge to victims
of Boko Haram insurgency.
On
this note, philanthropists, corporate bodies, religious organizations and charities
are urged to emulate the European Commission (EU) which has provided €21m
(about N4.7bn) to support Boko Haram victims in Nigeria and neighbouring
countries and the Nigerians
in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) which said it would soon initiate an appeal
fund to assist victims of Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria.
Finally,
this writer implores internally displaced person, Boko Haram victims and people
from North-East Nigeria to soldier on, be resilient and security conscious. As they
say, tough times don’t last but tough people do. No matter how long it takes,
light will triumph over darkness. This too, will surely come to pass. Nigerians
Unite Against Terrorism. Terrorism has no religion; it knows no race/tribe, age
and destroys those who practice it. See something, Hear something, Say
something. Say No To Terrorism!!!
Written By:
© Don
Okereke,
is a
Security Analyst/Consultant, Ex-Serviceman,
Writer/Blogger, Change Agent at the forefront of a Countering Violent Extremism
Campaign – ‘’Nigerians Unite Against Insecurity and Terrorism’’ and ‘’Say No To
Insecurity and Terrorism’’.
Email:
donnuait(a)yahoo.com
Twitter:
@DonOkereke
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