Lamentation Of The IDPs

Editor’s note: Political analyst, Adebayo Ademuwagun, laments the level at which the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have been neglected by the government, and seeks immediate redress of the situation.

Story highlights: 

– “Nigerians still can not understand the intensity level at which Boko Haram operates“.

– “There are about 1.5 million Nigerian IDPs in the country, who have been displaced from their homes. This is highly regrettable“.

– “The government should be fast enough to rebuild facilities and put things back in shape for IDPs, in order to enable them settle as quickly as possible”

Internally Displaced Persons

This article expresses the author’s opinion only. The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Naij.com or its editors.

A lot of people don’t really grasp what happens whenever Boko Haram attacks somewhere in the north; and that’s because most of these things aren’t really in the news.

READ ALSO: Will Buhari Continue To ‘Romance’ Boko Haram?

What people see in the newspaper headlines and evening news is usually just stats. Often the news just says a certain number of people have been killed and that’s about it.

It’s like they’re talking about statistics and not real people, so people don’t really appreciate how these gruesome attacks affect the victims personally.

Daily Trust newspaper spoke to a girl named Hannah Mustafa at one of the IDP camps lately. Hannah was a primary six pupil in her village in Borno. But one day the insurgents went to their village and shot people wildly.

They killed her father and she couldn’t find her mother and siblings after they all fled. She and the other survivors trekked a long way and eventually she was put in a camp in Abuja. It’s really disheartening for a young girl to have to go through all that.

A lot of people are like that today. Every time Boko Haram strikes, people lose their family, flee their homes and forgo everything they have just to survive. There are about 1.5 million Nigerians like this in the country who have now been displaced from their homes. This is highly regrettable.

Some of these people watched gunmen kill their family. The men and women had to abandon their livelihood and run away with little money to live with. The children couldn’t continue their education because schools are destroyed or they aren’t safe to go to. These poor people had little back home, and yet the little that they had was taken from them by these killers. That’s very depressing.

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On the ground in the IDP centres, things aren’t great for the people who have come to take refuge. There are dozens of official camps set up by the government to take care of these people and then there are informal places where people run to and then set up camp there. In most cases the camp is a makeshift one, usually a school ground.

The government tries to take care of these people by providing adequate food, clothing and shelter, but reports say the camps are overwhelmed. The government hasn’t been able to keep up with the rising number of displaced people running onto these camps and reports from those on the ground say there are barely enough supplies to go round.

People on the ground describe it as a pathetic situation in most camps. At one camp, the people were living in crude tents with whole families crammed into single tents apiece. There wasn’t enough running water. The foods and medicines weren’t coming regularly and the kids had basically stopped school. One of the IDPs said, “It’s like the government has forgotten us. The government is treating us like we’re not Nigerians.” It was a dire picture.

Meanwhile the attacks keep happening around the north and the government continues to struggle to contain the insurgents. Over 20,000 people have died in the crisis so far and hundreds in the last two months alone. Just this week reports say gunmen went to a village in Borno and massacred people while the others fled.

If things keep on this way, the number of IDP would keep rising as more people flee the killers. Already the number of IDPs is pushing two million. The government needs to act quickly to turn this disaster around.

Definitely displaced people like Hannah will hope the insurgency stops soon so they can go home to rebuild and carry on with their lives, but it’s not just about that. The government will need to do more for these people.

These people have lost their livelihood and property. Many of the young people have lost their parents and have no relatives to cater for them. Young people have also been out of school and now have gaps in their schooling because of the displacement. It’s really hard to quantify the loss that these people have suffered because of the Boko Haram insurgency.

The government needs to move fast to rebuild facilities and put things back in shape for the people when they go back home. But beyond rebuilding, the government needs to help these people get back on their feet again.

There are talks that the government is working on a relief package where each of the displaced persons would get some money and a few other things that would help them carry on. It’s a great idea and will really make the transition less difficult for these people.

READ ALSO: Tragedy: Boko Haram Kills Villagers, Burns Students Alive

But first the government needs to take the welfare of these people more seriously and urgently beef up supplies to the camps so that the people can get by decently for the time being. Then the government must intensify the fight against Boko Haram so it won’t be very long before displaced people return home to move on with their lives.

People displaced by Boko Haram have been through a lot already. The least the government can do is to put things back in shape for them and help them get back on their feet again.

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