IDPs: Another case of homelessness

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are people or groups of people who have been forced or obliged to flee 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.

It is very difficult to get accurate figures for IDPs because populations aren’t constant. IDPs may be returning home while others are fleeing, others may periodically return to IDP camps to take advantage of humanitarian aid. While the case of IDPs in large camps such as those in Darfur, western Sudan are relatively well-reported, it is very difficult to assess those IDPs who flee to larger towns and cities. It is necessary in many instances to supplement official figures with additional information obtained from operational humanitarian organizations on the ground.

However recent reports suggest that 38 million people have been displaced within their own country by conflict or violence, with at least 11 million newly displaced in 2014 alone.

Nigeria now have the highest number of internally displaced people in Africa after Sudan with a staggering figure of 1.6 million out of the 38 million people displaced worldwide. The factors that have ensured this steady increase are Boko Haram attacks and counterinsurgency efforts in northern Nigeria; communal violence between Christians and Muslims in the middle belt region, political violence; flooding; forced evictions; cattle rustling; competition for resources.

Also, Syria has the largest number of IDPs in the world with 7.6 million people – an outcome of the brutal civil war that broke out in the country in 2011.

Forcibly displaced people are one of the world’s most disadvantaged groups. Whether they are forced to leave home due to widespread violence, political repression, ethnic persecution, or natural disaster, meeting needs as basic as clean water is a constant struggle for many of these people. In Nigeria people have been displaced from their comfort zones to places that appear safer but the conditions therein is no different from that which they fled from.

Most of the camps set up by the government to cater for the internally displaced persons have fallen short of expectations. Asides the poor living conditions inherent in the camp, there have been alleged cases of neglect, abuse, rape, and child trafficking, while the unfortunate Nigerians sometimes rely on charity from churches and individuals to survive. Though promises have been made by government officials that never came to fruition till date

Last week 6,000 Nigerians from Niger Republic were deported amongst tens of thousands of Nigerians that fled the North at the peak of militant violence that ravaged the region between 2009 and 2014, when Boko Haram frequently carried out indiscriminate attacks.

Some of the IDPs have been living in border communities between Nigeria and Republic of Niger for years without having any business to visit the hinterland. For some parts of Borno and Yobe that have constantly suffered attacks from the blood-thirsty Boko Haram terrorist group, the longer the conflict lasts the more insecure they feel and when hopelessness sets in, many do cross borders and become refugees. Government counter-insurgency operations have also contributed to insecurity and displacement, both in the north-east and in neighbouring countries.

Internally displaced people (IDPs), the vast majority of whom are women and children, face a range of threats to their physical safety and restrictions on their freedom of movement. Many are traumatised by the violence that prompted them to flee and are afraid to return. Those whose homes have been damaged or destroyed by conflict and flooding have nowhere to go back to. Most internally displaced families live and share resources with host communities.

Efforts by national and state governments to address their needs are inconsistent, and poor access means support from international agencies and Nigerian civil society is also limited. People who live in or near camps receive some assistance, but often not enough to meet their food and other basic needs. They also tend to live in cramped and unhygienic conditions. The most vulnerable IDPs – the young, older people and those with disabilities – are most at risk. There is a lack of strategy guiding humanitarian assistance and only limited discussion of durable solutions at both the national and local level.

The full impact of displacement in Nigeria is unclear, because figures are often only available after larger-scale crises. Estimates suggest that violence and disasters caused by natural hazards have forced a staggering number of people to flee their homes, but information is anecdotal and primarily about the minority of IDPs who live in camps. Data collection is inconsistent and unreliable, leading to an alarming lack of understanding of displacement dynamics, and fragmented and inadequate responses.

Both the Nigerian authorities and the international community have focused disproportionately on north-east Nigeria. The current emphasis on short-term, emergency response also prevents understanding of how vulnerabilities increase with each cycle of displacement, how to address the causes of displacement and how to facilitate IDPs’ achievement of durable solutions.

Nigeria ratified the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, also known as the Kampala Convention, in May 2012 and rewrote a draft policy on IDPs to incorporate its provisions. As of December 2014, however, the federal cabinet had yet to adopt the policy, despite persistent advocacy on the issue. The failure to define roles and responsibilities continues to hamper the humanitarian and development response, a holistic approach towards durable solutions and efforts to prevent and prepare for future displacement.

The increase in the first half of 2015 of the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Nigeria was due to ongoing violence in the north-east as well as the return of refugees who have not been able to settle back in their places of origin and are therefore considered as IDPs. The biggest rise in the number of IDPs was registered in Borno state, one of the three north-eastern states most affected by Boko Haram violence, followed by Adamawa and Yobe.

Also Nigeria is prone to frequent flooding, which led to the world’s second largest displacement caused by a disaster in 2012. As of October 2014, NEMA reported that floods had caused the displacement of 66,000 people in 2014. State authorities in northern Nigeria have also acknowledged that thousands of people have been displaced as a result of desertification although information on the numbers and needs of this population does not exist.

International attention has tended to focus on Boko Haram’s brutality, but inter-communal conflicts, flooding, desertification and forced evictions have also caused significant internal displacement. After the completion of presidential and parliamentary elections in April, the fears of recurrence of the violence and displacement that accompanied the 2011 polls, particularly in the north of the country seems to have fizzled out. Therefore we should see a steady decline in the number of IDPs

Albeit, the number of internally displaced people will continually be on the rise until government finds a lasting solution to the issue of insurgency. A lot of Nigerians are homeless already we don’t need conflicts and violence to add to that number. It will be way too much for a government who appear clueless most times, to handle.