Borno’s IDPs and the Challenge of Resettlement
Kayode Fasua examines issues surrounding efforts by the federal government, in collaboration with the Borno State government to resettle the internally displaced persons
Against the backdrop of a recent discovery by the United Nations that there are 7.7 million people benighted by the Boko Haram insurgency in the north-eastern part of Nigeria, the body has particularly taken more than keen interest in residents’ plight. Apart from those who are encamped as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), who are considerably fortunate to be living ‘from hand to mouth’, the UN has also found that there is an army of wanderers; the loosely displaced locals, who are no more than endangered species to clear starvation and depravation, and then, to ambush-laying insurgents.
In a recent publication, the world body, through the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund, stated that it allocated US$9 million to provide life-saving aid to some 60,000 children, women and men, who were recently displaced during hostilities in Borno State. The sum, it said, included $2 million in support of the UN Humanitarian Air Service for frontline responders in North-East Nigeria.
“The humanitarian crisis in the region remains one of the most severe in the world today, with at least 7.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2018 in the worst-affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states. About 80 per cent of them6.1 million, are targeted for humanitarian assistance.
“This $9 million allocation will help fund 15 projects. It will support humanitarian rapid response in areas recently affected by large-scale conflict-related displacements, particularly in the northern parts of Borno, along the Maiduguri-Monguno axis.
“In just three months, close to 30,000 persons have fled the violence in areas that are hard to reach for international humanitarian organizations, and these persons are in dire need of food, water, shelter, blankets, clothes and medical services,” the UN report stated.
Alongside the UN assertions, a fresh controversy has also now been thrown up as to the desirability or otherwise of decamping the IDPs in Nigeria at a time like this. Though the military authorities have claimed that the insurgents had been largely subdued, pockets of attack or swift shock invasions are, from reports, still being recorded in some Borno localities.
Also, recently, Reuters, in a report raised the alarm that IDPs in Borno State were being forced back home “to ruins”, without guarantee of their safety.
According to Reuters, the move was to show progress in the war against Boko Haram insurgency as the 2019 elections approach.
“The IDPs are reportedly being told that they must return home if they wish to continue to receive help from the Federal Government.
“In June, some 2,000 IDPs living in Bakassi camp in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, were reportedly asked to return to a town called Guzamala.
“Apart from the communities being unsafe, the IDPs complained that they could not earn a living in the area, owing to the activities of the insurgents,” the report stated.
But to the Borno State Government, the time is ripe for the IDPs to return home, as it cited enhanced military surveillance and intelligence gathering in the local communities. Indeed, the state government had since April, this year, begun the phased resettlement of the IDPs, many whose loved ones are either now dead or can no longer be traced.
For instance, the state government resettled over 120,000 displaced residents of Bama, arguably the worst hit community in the North-East by the Boko Haram heist, last April. The locals of Bama, according to re-collectors, counted greatly among the over one million people displaced by the insurgency.
Following the wanton destruction of the community, which was once a buzzing com- mercial hub in the North-East, the Federal Government also recently instituted a scheme known as Bama Initiative, to fast-track reconstruction activities of the town.
Justifying why the state government is now convinced that the IDPs could go back home, apart from a return of relative peace, the state governor, Kashim Shettima, said that the state government had rehabilitated and reconstructed residential homes, police posts, schools, clinics and palaces.
Besides, he said the state government similarly rebuilt once ruined offices, markets and other public structures.
“The government has also provided electricity and water supply facilities in affected areas,” the governor announced.
Shettima said that such projects were executed under the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement programme initiated by his administration.
The governor stressed that the state government in collaboration with the Nigeria Armed Forces, the police and other partners, had adopted proactive measures to secure the settlement, noting that the returnees would be screened to enhance security and would be provided with other support services.
“Right now, our people are in Bama to safeguard life and property and we are talking with security agencies that are doing their utmost best; we will continue to support them to secure the state,” Shettima recently said.
Challenges
But between the governor and the military authorities’ efforts at ensuring the safety and well-being of not just the decamped IDPs but also the entire Borno residents, lies also, the challenges facing the IDPs in their various camps.
For instance, a recent report by the Amnesty International alleged that thousands of women and girls who managed to survive the insurgency were also being sexually abused by the security forces who claimed to be rescuing them.
According to the rights group, some women confined to remote camps had been forced to become ‘girlfriends’ of the uniformed men in exchange for humanitarian assistance, noting also that thousands had died of starvation, owing to lack of food in the camps.
“It is absolutely shocking that people who had already suffered so much under Boko Haram have been condemned to further horrendous abuse by the military,” said the Director of Amnesty International, Nigeria, Mr. Osai Ojigho.
But in a reaction, senior officials at the IDPs’ camps denied the Amnesty International’s allegations of sexual abuse and other deprivations, describing them as a deliberate ploy to discourage the military and make them withdraw their security services to the inmates.
This is as the military in a separate forum, also denied the accusation, saying its personnel neither molested, sexually assaulted nor raped any IDP as alleged by the Amnesty International.
An official at Dalori 1 IDPs’ Camp, Alhaji Buka Lambari, who was camp chairman in charge of Bama and Konduga councils, said, “We have about 7000 IDPs now in camp from both Bama and Konduga LGAs and have never heard or received any rape case involving any military man.
“All we know about the military at the camp is ‘security’ and nothing more. This is even my first time of hearing this allegation; this is nothing but a lie, just to smear the integrity of the military that are busy providing us with security day and night.” Resettlement in Progress Under PCNI Meanwhile, the Presidential Committee on Northeast Initiative (PCNI) said it had inaugurated a committee for the return and resettlement of the IDPs.
PCNI’s Vice Chairman, Alhaji Tijjani Tumsa, said in Maiduguri recently that the committee was constituted to facilitate safe and dignified return of displaced persons to their homes. Tumsa said the committee was part of the strategies adopted to ensure successful implementation of the resettlement exercise.
According to him, members of the committee included Borno Government, UN agencies, humanitarian and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), the military, the police, other security agencies, as well as representatives of the IDPs. “It will ensure the people return to their homes in a safe, dignified manner, and pick up livelihoods to resume their normal lives,” he said.
Tumsa, however, observed that the challenge facing the exercise was how to be able to sustain the resettled communities in the next four months in terms of food supply, before they could harvest their crops. But he also noted that the PCNI, in collaboration with Victim Support Fund (VSF), recently provided seeds and fertilisers to the returning farmers, to enable them engage in agricultural activities.
“While we may want to address issues that are long-term developmental, the basic aspect of the humanitarian condition is food.
“We are working with the national and state emergency management agencies, UN agencies and International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs), to address the food supply gap in IDP camps and resettled communities in Borno.”
He added that the committee, in partnership with the government, would rehabilitate major roads to open up the state, link communities, encourage agricultural activities, and ease movement of farm produce to the market.
“Road is critical to resettlement, and we are in discussion with the Borno Government on rehabilitation of Maiduguri-Bama road, and work will soon commence at the end of the rainy season,’’ he said.
Tumsa disclosed that the Federal Government also awarded a contract for Gwoza-DamboaChibok road, adding that the committee accorded priority to the rehabilitation of Maiduguri-Gwoza, Maiduguri-Mubi, Maiduguri-Ngala, and Maiduguri-Biu roads.
According to him, the road projects were essential to the improvement of the wellbeing of the people, as they would also help check the nefarious activities of the insurgents. CD Issues Caution Meanwhile, the Campaign for Democracy (CD) has called for utmost sincerity in the concerted effort between the Federal Government and the Borno State Government towards the resettlement of the IDPs. Making the call, the CD General Secretary, Comrade Ifeanyi Odili, said government should not relocate the IDPs to their communities for the purpose of making them participate in the 2019 election, as being alleged.
“There must be sincerity of purpose in resettling these traumatised citizens; they should not be herded home because of 2019 election only for them to be slaughtered by Boko Haram insurgents.
“Government must ensure that their localities are safe and must provide 24-hour security for them, since the war against insurgency has only made progress but is not yet over.
“Besides, humanitarian aides to them should not cease because these people have been displaced for upwards of three, four years and they have no means of livelihood yet.
“Above all, our government must realise that it is only the living that can vote; so they must do all within their powers to keep these helpless and hapless Nigerians alive,” Odili urged.