Nigeria has the third highest number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Africa. Over 3.2 million people are displaced by conflict and violence. By mid-2020, it counted 2.6 million Internally Displaced People. The rising statistics of the Internally Displaced Persons across the country is alarming as the reign of terror continue unabated. Militias, bandits, Boko Haram and other allied insurgency groups have been unleashing terror on innocent people through needless attacks and sacking of people from their original villages, killings, kidnappings, burning of houses and destruction of farmlands. By GODWIN MOSES
POLITICS, ethnicity, religion, poor institutions (Justice system) and security architecture, high level of growing population leading to more pressure on natural resources such as land and water, compounded by climate change which has caused migration and change in livelihood, also poverty and growing level of illiteracy have been identified as causes of conflict and violence in Nigeria.
The frequency with which thousands of people are being internally displaced and some taking refuge outside the borders of their native country particularly in Chad, Niger and Cameroon indicate that Nigeria is presently facing humanitarian crises which has the potential of overwhelming not only the country but the whole of Africa if left unchecked.
The story of IDPs is typically that of man’s inhumanity to man. Within and without, Internally Displaced Persons are confronted by psychological trauma, anguish, frustration, hopelessness and perpetual fear. These are people who are overwhelmed with loss of one or all of their family members, property and means of livelihood; with virtually nothing to fall back to. And as they struggle to come to terms with their new status as IDPs in IDP camps, there are instances where such people are being attacked right in the IDP camps or during burial of their kinsmen who fell to the bullets of the brutal enemies.
I urge the good people of Nigeria to call on the government as a matter of urgency to go extra miles in order to live up to its statutory responsibility of safeguiding lives and property of it citizens. though the state has acquired super Tucano helicopters to fight terrorism, banditry and other insurgency, all eyes are on the military to see how it would effectively deploy, combine such with the right strategists to stop the killing of innocent Nigerians, thus, changing the narrative of the rising number of the internally displaced people in Borno, Plateu, Benue, Kaduna, Niger, Kebbi, Katsina and Zamfara States.
The Nigerian Police is the principal law enforcement and the lead security agency in Nigeria. Designated by the 1999 constitution as the national Police of Nigeria with exclusive jurisdiction through out the Country. Nigerian population is over 220 million with the personnel strength of the Nigeria Police Force at 370,000. This is grossly inadequate considering the United Nations projection of 100,000 population per Police officer.
There is no doubt that Nigeria is in dire need of state Police to compliment the existing Police who is already been overstretched. The National Assembly and the federal executive should accordingly legislate and empower the 36 states in Nigeria to create state Police which is usually closer to the people; they would be in better position to proactively carry out surveillance, intelligence gathering, build early warning system within the communities and also detect potential dangers in communities rather than confronting fully blown crises such as insurgency, banditry and acts of terrorism.
It would take a lot of efforts for anyone not to see that the country needs a paramilitary outfit like the Peace Corps of Nigeria to complement the existing security agencies through neighbourhood watch and intelligence gathering at the grassroots. It’s cheaper and far better to deploy proactive measures in tackling the mirage of insecurity bedevilling our beloved nation than confronting a full scale hydraheaded monsters call insecurity. This is the way to go in addressing crime and criminality with a view to reduce the rising cases of kidnapping of students, reduce violence and conflict responsible for growing number of Internally Displaced People in the country. It’s high time we stopped treating symptoms of a disease without dealing with it root causes.
We must all direct our efforts towards relieving the plights of the internally displaced persons. The Internally Displaced Persons particularly those living in the IDPs camps are eager to go back to their homes with assistance from government and Philanthropists to harness whatsoever is at their disposal to continue with life. Some kind hearted stakeholders such as those in the political class are recorded to have promised to help with building materials (roofing sheets, cements, etc) which they had earlier pledge to provide to the IDPs when they visited such camps; they are encouraged to show good leadership and direction by acting or responding positively in that regard.
Women and children are mostly the victims of conflict and violence, these group of people are the majority in any of the internally displaced persons Camps. They are in dire need of sanitary wares. Please donate to orphans, widows, friends, kinsmen, neighbours under such an unfortunate predicament. Your little act of kindness would save a life.
Government should beef up security around such camps to avoid further attacks and infliction of pains on the people who are already traumatised and overwhelmed, and equally focus on medical intervention, ensure there are functional clinics (permanent or makeshift) with adequate drugs supplies and other essential commodities to take care of medical issues and emergencies.
The shortages of water and sanitation, functional toilets facilities and toiletries should be address by the state actors to avoid open defecation which often lead to outbreaks of waterborne diseases like cholera. There should be arrangement for periodical supplies of food and domestic utensils, clothes, shoes instead of the one off supply by religious bodies. Non-state actors within and outside the country are enjoined to perform a sort of need assessment prior to donations to ensure resources are properly maximised and invested in prioritised areas of need.
Justice must be served to all. Relieve interventions and building of settlements for communities ravished by terrorism, insurgency and other inhuman acts which displaced people from their homes should not be seen directed towards certain region of the country excluding others. Just like the North East Commission, other parts of the country such as the North Central with rising number of IDPs deserve similar intervention by the Federal Government.
We are call to love and serve one another, share and provide companionship, lead with equity and truth in the face of injustice and meet the need for food, clothes, shelter, land, water in order to relieve the plight of the internally displaced persons. There is hope for the internally displaced persons. There is hope for Nigerians because evil will never prevail against good. Let the wicked and the merchants of conflicts be reminded that every act -good or evil will be judged by our creator. Certainly, “ he who lives by the sword shall die by the sword ’ GODWIN MOSES #PeaceCorpsof Nigeria.
