Nigeria: Simmering tensions cause new displacement in the “middle belt”

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^{31 December 2010}

Nigeria has experienced recurring conflicts along regional, religious, linguistic and ethnic lines since the country’s return from military rule to democracy in 1999. These conflicts have led to fluctuating but consistently large numbers of IDPs.

There is a lack of reliable data on the number of IDPs in the country and no comprehensive survey on internal displacement has been conducted. Generally, the estimates provided by government and non-governmental agencies have only included people who have sought shelter at temporary IDP camps, and do not reflect the many who have taken refuge with family and friends. Furthermore, data is usually not disaggregated by age and sex and only refers to localised displacement situations. Due to the absence of mechanisms to monitor IDPs’ ongoing situations, it is impossible to determine whether IDPs may have achieved durable solutions.

In May 2010, following the death of the president Umaru Yar’Adua, vice-president Goodluck Jonathan assumed the interim presidency until presidential elections planned for April 2011. There were clashes between supporters of the opposing candidates in some of the northern states in 2010, and more are likely as the competition for the presidency intensifies; such clashes may lead to internal displacement as they have during past elections.

In early 2010, inter-ethnic violence, fuelled by widespread poverty and disputes over resources, erupted in the city of Jos in Plateau State, resulting in the displacement of at least 5,000 people. Some of the people who were displaced sought shelter in police barracks, mosques and churches, and others with family and friends in the city. Some fled to neighbouring Bauchi State, where they found refuge in camps set up by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). Humanitarian aid was slow to reach the camps and many IDPs reportedly suffered from lack of food and other basic items in the aftermath of the violence. As of October 2010, some IDPs were still trying to return to their villages and rebuild their homes. A resettlement programme was initiated by NEMA and the Bauchi State government for the IDPs who were unwilling to return to Jos.

In the southern Niger Delta region, around 8,000 residents of the villages of Oporosa and Okerenkoko were still displaced in 2010 following clashes between government troops and militants of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) in May 2009. Most were reportedly staying with friends and relatives in neighbouring villages in Delta State, while waiting for the reconstruction of their villages to start. In December 2010, hundreds of families were displaced in the region following an attack on the village of Ayakoromor by the armed forces’ Joint Task Force.

Natural disasters such as flooding and soil erosion have also regularly caused internal displacement in Nigeria. In conflict-affected states, these natural disasters have complicated displacement and return patterns. In some cases, it has also been difficult to distinguish between people displaced by conflict and disaster.

The government drafted a national IDP policy in 2004, but the policy was never formally adopted. However, in 2010, it appealed to the UN to support a profiling exercise to obtain more precise data on internal displacement, indicating its recognition of the need to take a more comprehensive approach to the problem. Nigeria has signed but not yet ratified the Kampala Convention.

In the absence of policy and legal frameworks, the responsibility to respond to displacement lies with local authorities. There are State Emergency Management Agencies in some states, which step in where local authorities are unable to respond. At the federal level, NEMA coordinates emergency relief operations and victim assistance and may intervene upon the president’s decision.

As NEMA only has resources to respond to short-term emergencies, the National Commission for Refugees (NCFR) has taken effective responsibility for longer-term support measures enabling durable solutions for IDPs and refugees. However, it too lacks resources, and other government agencies have been brought in on a case-by-case basis in an effort to respond to crises.

International aid for Nigeria and the UN’s interventions have not focused on IDPs, but rather on development activities designed to encourage democratic processes and respect for the rule of law and human rights.

Nigeria : Sectarian violence across the country displaces thousands (13 January 2012)

According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), some 10,000 people were internally displaced in Yobe State following clashes between the Boko Haram sect and security forces. Boko Haram militants attacked several churches on 25 December (Christmas Day) after demanding that Christians in the largely Muslim north leave the region. Reports of attacks on Christians across north-eastern Nigeria have heightened fears of a sectarian conflict in areas long prone to local conflicts over access to land and resources.

Nigerian Red Cross officials reported that members of the mostly Christian Igbo ethnic group, a minority in the mainly Muslim north, were fleeing the north-east. NEMA’s regional coordinator added that most of those fleeing were avoiding camps as they feared becoming easy targets for further attacks there.

Meanwhile, on 9 January, some 10,000 people were also displaced in the southern state of Benin following attacks on (mostly Muslim) Hausa residents. 

In early 2010, unresolved conflicts and simmering tensions between different social and ethnic groups led to renewed displacement in the city of Jos in the heart of the “middle belt” region of Nigeria. As in the rest of the country, no clear figures on the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) were available for this latest incident of violence. Ad-hoc local registration exercises have hinted at the scale of displacement, but many people sought shelter and support from family and friends and so were not counted.

Displacement across the country is a common result of both communal violence and internal armed conflict. While some of the conflicts appear to be caused by religious or ethnic differences, benefits of a political, social and economic nature are generally behind the violence in a country with endemic poverty, low levels of education and a huge and alienated youth population. Nigeria also regularly experiences displacement as a consequence of natural disasters such as flooding or soil erosion. (...)

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^{3 December 2010}