THE GROWING CHALLENGE OF IDPS

The authorities must do more to cushion the hardship in the camps

In almost two decades, repeated attacks and violence have forced out entire communities, uprooted families from ancestral homes and destroyed their sources of livelihoods. As it is, millions of Nigerians have been growing up without homes, education, or hope, essentially driven by insecurity, banditry, farmer-herder conflicts and communal violence. Women and children make up the vast majority of those living in displacement camps, and placing them at higher risk. Last week, the federal government disclosed that 3.7 million Nigerians live in various camps and host communities, a figure a little shy of the combined population of Namibia and Botswana.

Expectedly, states in the northeast have a significant burden of the displaced people, hosting 2.2 million, due to the Boko Haram insurgency. This is followed by the northwest and the northcentral where about 720,000 and 605,000 people respectively, are forced to inhabit the Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) camps due largely to banditry, and farmer-herder conflicts. Borno, the headquarters of the insurgency, bears a significant portion of homeless persons. Although the state government has shut down all official camps in Maiduguri, over 200 camps, both formal and informal, still dot the state’s landscape, hosting hundreds of thousands of IDPs.While the Madinnatu camp in Jere local government remains functional, a recent attack in Ngoshe community in Gwoza local government forced the authorities to open a temporary camp near Pulka to accommodate thousands of displaced residents, mostly women and children.

Zamfara State, the operational headquarters of banditry, is hosting about 276,887 displaced persons in nine camps due to persistent armed banditry. Reports indicate that at least 107 villages were overrun by bandits between 2009 and 2026, forcing thousands to flee to Gusau, the state capital. Some of them live in camps like Tsunami, Mareri, Tudun Wada, Unguwar Gwaza and have experienced multiple displacement as a result of constant violence. Benue, a state affected largely by farmer-herder clashes, is home to over 500,000 IDPs, making it one of the worst-hit states. The state operates 14 recognised camps, but reportedly transitioning from temporary relief to a durable solutions framework, and focusing on voluntary return, resettlement and reintegration.

In nearby Taraba State, about 90,000 displaced persons are sheltered in camps located in Peva and Kufai Ahmadu in Chanchanji Ward of Takum LGA. Some of them do not feel safe and have crossed into neighbouring communities in Benue State. Meanwhile, persistent attacks across Plateau state have led to the displacement of thousands of residents. Communities in Mangu, Wase, Barkin Ladi, Riyom, and Jos South are nursing wounds from several attacks. However, most displaced residents in Plateau live with relatives, a system that preserves social ties in spite of strains to host families.

Although the government has taken steps to protect and address the plight of IDPs across the country by providing camps, many of the displaced persons are facing severe socio-economic, health and environmental challenges and other essential services. From living in deplorable conditions to hunger and malnutrition to poor sanitary conditions, their access to clean water is also difficult. Women and girls are sexually exploited, some by men who are supposed to protect them. Indeed, issues of insecurity and criminality which drove them out of their ancestral homes persist in the camps, in some cases, in worst forms. Besides, effective management of IDPs is hampered by mistrust and diversion of relief materials.

The 1st Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and Chairman of the Human Rights Institute, Sabastine Anyia, said rightly that the IDPs who languish in camps across the nation, live in conditions “that represent flagrant violations of basic human rights.” It is time to put an end to the brutal war so that the displaced can reclaim their dignity.

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From living in deplorable conditions to hunger and malnutrition to poor sanitary conditions, their access to clean water is also difficult