Category: Online Special

There are over 2.9million Internally Dsiplaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria, a figure which is estimated to be on the increasing side as a result of incessant terrorist attacks on Nigerian communities, especially the Northern region. How are the IDPs surviving since the forceful eviction from their communities? Who provides aid for them and the challenges they are facing as they settle in another location. In this special report, ADESOLA IKULAJOLU takes a journey to the popular Karonmajigi IDP camp located in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

Isa left his village in Borno State when they were attacked at night by terrorists. The terrorists killed several villagers while some were injured in their rush for safety when they launched the attack that fateful night, Isa narrated. Isa was young when the incident happened and had to leave the terrorist-infested community with other villagers who searched for a safer place.

Musiu found himself in Federal Capital Territory, Abuja with other villagers. They settled at Karonmajigi, an outskirt along airport road in Nigeria’s capital where they formed a camp for the Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs).

One of such persons who also escaped with other villagers is Isa’s friend, Musiu. They both can’t recall their journey into the Karonmajigi camp as they struggle to narrate their ordeal to this reporter.

“The fighting is too much,” Isa said as he continued stocking his damaged fridge with soft drinks which now serve as the only means of livelihood for him in front of his makeshift aluminum room.

Many other Isas and Musius- old and young also exist in the Karonmajigi IDPs camp where they all struggle for survival after being displaced from their community.

…Karamajiji IDPs Camps

Karonmajigi is situated at the back of the National Military Cemetery nearby Kuchingoro in the northern region of Abuja. Formerly an undeveloped hectares of inhabitable land surrounded with trees, now a community housing thousands of humans including an Internally Displaced Camp.

Karonmajigi IDP camp is one out of the 18 in Abuja which currently houses over 1,000 displaced persons including children and women. It is home to those who had been displaced from their homes by Boko Haram. Abuja has a total of 31,029 IDPs, according to the 2021 figure by National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Displaced Persons (NCFRMI, the government agency incharge of displaced persons.

Oldmen and women seated on the floor under the tree begging alms, with children clad in torn clothes hawking round, few bike men struggling to get customers and discussing in their hausa language- this introduces the entrance into Karonmajigi before walking over 20minutes to the IDP camp while bike will take about 5minutes to ply.

Most of the IDPs in Karonmajigi are from Yobe, Borno and Adamawa. They are sometimes referred to as “unauthorised” by FEMA but well recognised by the Refugees Commission.

Forced to forge a life for themselves outside of the much-needed care and very necessary watch of the government, Karonmajigi IDPs the camp is left uncared for by her own government. This has left many of the men to resort to hard labourers on farms they do not own, drivers, security; just to keep providing square meals for their children and wife.

According to data by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) in its 2021 index report for Nigeria, there are over 2.9million Internally Displaced Persons with Borno having the highest figure of 1,630,284 persons in over 30 camps.

Terrorist attacks in the Northeast have rendered many homeless and displaced from their town in search of safety.

No education for our children- Internally Displaced Women

For 13-year-old Khadijat, access to education is a mirage since she arrived at the Karonmajigi camp for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who were ejected from their original communities in Northern Nigeria. Khadijat is not the only one affected, other children in the camp are also caught in the web of poor access to education.

The Karonmajigi IDPs camp is located along airport road, Lugbe, in Abuja Municipal Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory.

When this reporter met Khadijat, she was seated in front of the only building that serves as school for the IDPs. She struggles to speak in English while also playing with other children in the camp.

Khadijat could not recall when she was moved to the Karonmajigi IDP camp but she could recall that she was moved from Maiduguri when conflict evicted her family from their community.

Fatima Mohammed, a struggling mother, narrated her journey into the Karonmajigi IDP camp after being evicted from her home in Adamawa. Aishatu and other women have been battling with the problem of having their children enrolled in school.

Despite being forced to leave their homes and find settlement in another state to escape witnessing another deadly terrorist attack, a large percentage of the children at the Karonmajigi IDP camp do not go to school.

“Our main problem is the lack of education for our children in school. There is a government school here. That is where our children go to, but you know government school, there is no proper teaching and some of the women don’t even have the money to take their children to the government schools,” Fatima told this reporter.

“..So many people will come here to listen to ask about our children and promise to tell the chairman but we won’t hear anything again. Many people will come and say select children. Chairman will say -go back home and then, nothing again. Many people really want to help but we don’t know what is going on.”

Fatima explained how parents in the IDP camp are struggling to pay for the West African Examination Council (WAEC) since help is not coming for their children. The complaint was lodged to the chairman of the camp, Mr. Abubakar but rather than proffer help, he told Fatima that “no one will write WAEC.” Since then, no child has registered for WAEC at the Karamajiji IDP camp.

Raquel Kasham Daniel, the Director of Beyond the Classroom lamented the poor access to funds by parents at the IDP which makes it difficult for them to sponsor their children to school.

“The government should intervene in the matter by empowering the parents to be financially stable to care for themselves and enroll their children in school”

Raquel used her organisation to provide access to education for over 130 children at Karonmajigi community, since help is not coming for them.

This reporter saw the only building servin g as a school for the children, now in a poor and collapsing state. The small classroom had wooden desks packed in one side of the room, some of which are broken and begging for repair with charcoal littering the floor. This is not close to what a definition of conducive learning environment should be.

…More Out-Of School Children

According to UNICEF “all children, no matter where they live or what their circumstances, have the right to quality education.” This right to education seems not to apply to the children of the internally displaced persons in Karamajiji.

One in five out-of-school children in the world is a Nigerian. In Nigeria, out-of-school children account for 10.5 million, making the figure the highest rate in the world which indicates that one-third of Nigerian children are not in school.

With the population of the IDPs, clear indication exists that the displaced children account for the larger percentage of out-of-school children. With this deficiency, education practitioners highlighted that the lack of access to education by children in the IDP camp will pose a threat and contribute to increasing number of out-of-school children.

This reporter walked round the camp to observe the living condition of the children. Many of them were seen begging alms while some hawk round the neighbouring communities. Some of them trek as far as Jabi, Lokogoma, Berger, Wuye, Utako- all of which can take over 45minutes to enroute.

No Medical Help For The IDPs

Aishatu Bala is one out of many women at the Karonmajigi IDP camp who speaks and understands English language fluently. She was also displaced from her Adamawa home.

Aishatu battles with a head pain that has refused to go. When she discovered the pain was getting too much for her, she approached the national hospital where she hoped to receive treatment. As an IDP, Aishatu thought she would be attended to but she was told to pay the sum of 10,000 before she could meet with the doctor.

With the pain and disappointment, Fatima returned to the camp and continued living with the condition. In search of relief and better health, she (Fatima) is struggling to raise over 30,000 for her head pain to be attended to.

This is the fate of other internally displaced persons at Karamajiji camp- no medical help. They all struggle to get themselves treated at the hospital if they can afford the payment or resort to self-medication while some die in the process of no medical attention.

“If we are sick, we take ourselves to the hospital. I was told that before I can see the doctor, I must pay 10,000 without paracetamol or anything. That was how I turned back. I want to gather 30,000. We don’t have access to any hospital, we are the one taking care of ourselves,” Aishatu told this reporter.

Fatima on her own side said she can’t remember when last anyone from the IDP camp visited the hospital as the only medical help they get is from Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and churches who usually come for outreach.

This was not the situation for the IDPs when they initially moved to the camp. The two women (Fatima and Aishatu) recalled there used to be a time when the national hospital used to have a scheduled time for the IDPs but now, they have been told that ‘it has closed’.

Fatima has been the one maintaining the borehole donated to the IDP camps. She does this by repairing the tap anytime it gets spoiled to ensure that the camp members have regular access to water. She also takes care of the borehole to prevent any traces of water-borne disease as her own way of contributing to the IDP to eradicate medical complications since they struggle to access medical help.

We Don’t Depend On Government To Survive- IDP Officials

Before Usman was evicted from his home in Borno, his dream was to become a manager. He completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Management from the University of Maiduguri.

In 2014, terrorists launched an attack on Usman town. That was the last time he saw his town before being forced to move to FCT in search of safety to form a camp with his people where they are surviving with inadequate government attention.

For Usman and other men in the Karamajiji IDPs camp, their means of livelihood is dependent on how hard they work. They engage in menial jobs to feed their families without waiting for any government help for the internally displaced persons which Usman said it scarcely come.

“Nobody here relies on what the government gives the IDPs. We are working. Some are doing business while some are working as security in companies. If you check the camp now, you will see they are not around because they have all gone about their businesses.”

“Nobody is idling around. This hall you see, no one gave us. We make use of our money including the houses. We cannot say we have much problem because we are solving it,” Usman told this reporter.

Usman explained that during the Ramadan period, the Minister for Agriculture brought food (corn and garri) for them while the Refugee Commission also provided support for the camp members but the internally displaced persons still search for help to survive by themselves.

Like Fatima told this reporter, Usman also agreed that they receive help from NGOs and religious bodies who come to do outreach.

“Our children are attending schools that we can afford around here. We’ve been here for a long time since 2014 and the government has been supporting us in their little way as we are under the Refugee Commission. Some NGOs always give us some sensitization and food items.Many NGOs also sponsor our children to school apart from the government,” the Karonmajigi IDP Secretary told this reporter.

On access to medical attention, Usman said: “If anyone gets sick, I will collect a letter of authorization and give it to the person. Everyone’s name is on the hospital’s database. You must register. If you’re not known, no one will attend to you.because there is a need to collect letters from the Refugee Commission.”

Due to the activities of Boko Haram and now the infiltration of Banditry, the level of insecurity in Nigeria has heightened in recent years, mostly in the northern part of the country. More internally displaced persons are relocating.

Investigations have shown that IDPs are largely left to fend for themselves, with inadequate support from the government. Karonmajigi IDPs are not the only one lamenting neglect by the government, their counterparts in Abuja are also facing similar pains spurring them to survive all by themselves.

This story was supported by Journalists for Christ through World Association of Christian Communications (WACC) and Bread for the World – German Protestant Agency for Diaconia and Development.

A BLOG, GISTMASTER on the 4th of May, 2022 published a story with the headline: Tinubu stops Sanwo-Olu second term bid, anoints Mustapha Olorunfemi has left Lagosians thinking about the All Progressives Congress (APCs) fate at the 2023 gubernatorial election in Lagos State.

It will be recalled that the former Governor of Lagos State Akinwunmi Ambode was unable to get the second term ticket as the incumbent governor before Babajide Sanwo-Olu won the APC primary election in 2018.

Sanwo-Olu emerged as the winner of the primary with 970,851 votes ahead of Ambode with 72,901 votes.

The purported anointed aspirant Abdul-Ahmed Olorunfemi Mustapha in 2015 was appointed as Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Science & Technology. He was redeployed in the same capacity to the Ministry of Wealth Creation & Employment in May 2016 and thereafter to the Office of Overseas Affairs and Investment (Lagos Global) in February 2017.

Later redeployed to Governor’s Office Parastatals Monitoring Office in November 2017 and Office of Civic Engagement in June 2019, he retired as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in 2021.

Mustapha has maintained a very low profile for years in civil service but his name is currently shared on several Whatsapp groups with prominent and influential Lagosians as members.

He is a member of the National Black Association of America (MBA), Project Management Institute of America, Newark, New Jersey Chapter, and an expert in Information Technology/Financial Systems.

GISTMASTER is a lifestyle blog owned by one Niyi Tabiti with a Twitter account @niyitabiti having 1,622 followers, following 583 with 152.1K tweets at the time of filing this report.

The blog, founded in 2007 reports about business, personality, brands, technology, fashion, and travel.

The report claimed a supposed media platform News of The People reported the story. However, a fact check by our reporter shows there was no media platform with that name.

A fact check on the GISTMASTER blog also shows that the story is not plausible because mainstream media like The Nation, Vanguard, Punch, etc reported on the 18th of April 2022 that the Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC), the highest decision-making body of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos endorsed Babajide Sanwo-Olu for the second term in office.

It was also observed that what GISTMASTER reported was not published by any legitimate or mainstream media on paper, television, or radio as well as any online news platform.

There was only a single quote credited to an “insider” who knows Bourdilion saying: “politicking at Bourdilon simply said mr governor has been told to forget the ambition just as the way he was asked to obtain a nomination form in 2019,”

Also, a fact check by our reporter shows there was no other evidence to back up the report by GISTMASTER.

Using TruthNest tool, Niyi Tabiti joined Twitter on 20th July 2009. His weekly activities show that nothing was posted between 30th April, 2022, and 2nd May, 2022.

Then on 3rd May, 2022, he was active with a rise on 4th of May, 2022 when GISTMASTER posted the report till May 7, 2022. Normal users usually post a varying number of tweets per day and going by this trendline, it indicates a bot or a spam account.

@niyitabiti tweeter account was active during the day and less (no active at all) during the night. This unchanged behaviour during the day could indicate a bot account. And his post frequency per day since 20-07-2009 is 33 and recently, he has posted 54 tweets per day. While his only hashtag in the last 2,200 posts was #Osinbajo.

TruthNest was also used to show that @niyitabiti has no mention, no post was retweeted or quoted in his last 2,200 posts. There is also a 100% indication that @niyitabiti account may be a bot with TruthNest digital tool. This indicates no interaction with others, almost all tweets contain links as well as a similar time gap between a series of successive tweets.

Another digital tool, Twitonomy shows that after Niyi Tabiti @niyitabiti tweeted the report, three other handles Daily Dispatch Newsp @DailyDispatch1 with 118 followers , Abuja Press @abujapress_ with 8, 610 followers and Alex Report @alexreport_ with 1, 179 followers. None of them had a like, retweet, or quote retweet.

A background check using HOAXY tool shows @niyitabiti Twitter account having 4.7/5 with the account indicating that he has quoted nobody, was quoted by nobody, has mentioned nobody, was mentioned by nobody, and has retweeted nobody.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Friday, May 6, 2022 tweeted via his verified handle @jidesanwoolu with photographs showing Bola Ahmed Tinubu raising his hand and his deputy’s, Obafemi Hamzat.

It tweeted: “Earlier today at the Lagos APC Stakeholders meeting, I accepted with much gratitude my endorsement for a second term in office by all party leaders. My special appreciation to our leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his guidance.

“I also thank the GAC leaders for their earlier endorsement and for standing by our administration. It is now time for party members across the state to foster cohesion and work for the APC’s success in the State and at the federal level.

“It is time to come together as determined party members and show genuine love towards our National Leader, who is our priceless symbol in Lagos. We must ensure that this house is in order and fully united ahead of the national primaries.”

Conclusion

The report went viral due to the personality of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu who are involved ahead of the 2023 Presidential and gubernatorial elections respectively.

The report is a claim of fact that could not be verified and one directed at discrediting the image of Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

If left unchallenged, it will potentially have a far-reaching audience just like what has been done in the social media community and Lagos State at large.

The report indicates a threat to social cohesion whereby it can lead to physical harm, violence and cause conflict among the loyalists of governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

It can also distort the All Progressives Congress (APC) political system in Lagos State by allowing the opposition parties have an edge in the 2023 election.

Also, Niyi Tabiti @niyitabiti according to the digital tools used for fact-checking this report, account cannot be trusted as well as his blog GISTMASTER for spreading altered, misleading content, and false information.

IBRAHIM ADAM, a journalist with The Nation, has looked into the claim that: Tinubu stops Sanwo-Olu second term bid, anoints Mustapha Olorunfemi, and finds the claim to be FALSE.

Rufiyat Audu’s small restaurant in Nkangbe community of Bosso local government area in Niger state in Northern Nigeria has three wooden tables and six long benches that can seat four people. It’s built with zinc and has no fan or any electrical appliances. She began the restaurant in 2021 after trying to hawk plastics and coolers, which only pushed her further into debt.

Rufiyat, popularly called ‘Mama Ruka’, said she began the food business because she was told that there would be some profit for her and her family to pay for some daily needs, including feeding.

But recently, Mama Ruka is finding it difficult to realize any profit due to the increasing rate of foodstuffs in the market. Her customers don’t understand why they are now getting a smaller portion of food for the same price.

“It is very difficult to keep up”, Mama Ruka said in Pidgin English. “Before you came, I just returned from the market. I bought beans N800 for a mudu (a measurement for foodstuff in the north). Unlike people who buy in bags, I don’t have enough to buy in bags, so I mostly buy in mudus.

“This was the same beans I bought last week (last Monday in March) for N750. As of January, I still sold N70 beans but now, it is N100 which is two spoons and my customers are complaining.

If it continues going up, I will have to increase the amount for the beans because it is from the same beans I sell that I remove the money for pepper, oil, tomatoes, and seasoning which I use for the stew. It has not been easy. Things just dey go up every day”, she lamented.

Like Mama Ruka, many other Nigerians are battling to keep up with the increasing cost of foodstuffs and other essential needs.

Adesola Animashahun, a care assistant in Lagos, says the situation is making it difficult for her and many others to buy all the foodstuffs they want.

“Each time I go to the market, the prices keep increasing and when we ask why, the sellers say dollar exchange rate has increased. They tell us they are selling the way they bought the goods,” Animashanun explained.

“Uncooked rice which used to be sold for N2,100 now sells for N2,700. Groundnut oil was N700 a measure, but it’s now N1,000 plus. Even only the rich can afford yams now. The price of a tuber has jumped from N800 to about N1,500.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its “Selected Food Prices Watch ” for February 2022, reflected a rise in several foodstuffs in all parts of the country.

According to the NBS’s data, the average price of 1kg of beans (white and black) rose on a year-on-year basis by 50.1%, from N331.48 in February 2021 to N497.54 in February 2022, while it increased by 3.34% on a month-on-month from N481.47 in January 2022 to N497.54 in February 2022.

The NBS projected prices, however, are lower than the present market value of foodstuffs.

According to NBS data, the average price of 500g of sliced bread, a major staple in many homes, increased year-on-year by 34.11%, from N326.61 in February 2021 to N438.03 in February 2022.

Various factors, including the COVID pandemic, insecurity, weak economic policies, global economic trends and the on-going Russia/Ukraine war are believed to be responsible for the price increases, with no sign of reduction as the inflation in the country bites harder.

Although Nigeria has gradually recovered from the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic, many sectors, including the food supply chain, still retain the high cost of goods and services due to the closure of the economy and loss of profits.

How the War in Ukraine will affect the prices of foodstuffs

There is an indication that the increase in price of foodstuffs may continue to rise due to the war between Ukraine and Russia.

Those two countries are important players in the global food export market. According to the ONE Campaign, Russia and Ukraine supply 30% of the world’s wheat and 24% of its barley.

The Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, warned on April 2nd, 2022, that Nigeria and other African countries may face food crises due to the war in Ukraine.

According to her, in many African countries (including Nigeria), food prices have risen by 20%.

In an exclusive interview with BBC World Service, the Director General explained that Russia is the biggest exporter of fertilizers, wheat and maize and the war has impacted exports of these products.

Nigeria will suffer from this because the country imports 27% of its wheat from Russia and 4% of its wheat from Ukraine.

This development has put Nigeria’s food supply under some pressure. As Okonjo-Iweala noted, the prices of wheat and maize increased by 62% and 36% respectively after the war started.

She also noted that the price of soya beans has inflated by 29% while noting that the cost of purchasing fertilisers globally has gone up by 300% because of the ongoing war.

Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in March said the increase in prices of some foodstuffs, petrol, diesel and other items is a global trend, and not limited to any country.

The World Bank is forecasting further price increases for foodstuffs, including a 42.7% increase in wheat prices and a further 20% increase in the cost of soya beans.

Insecurity

While noting that the global pandemic is also a factor for the sharp high cost of food items in the country, the National President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Kabir Ibrahim, said insecurity has prevented many farmers from accessing their farms thereby inhibiting otherwise optimum production, which has contributed to the insufficient supply of food items.

According to him, insufficient food supplies could lead to famine and instability, which if allowed to persist could cause political turmoil that destabilizes the whole nation.

High exchange rate

Prince Wale Oyekoya, an agriculturist and the CEO of Bama Farms Limited, lamented the high dependence on importation of some food items at high exchange rates instead of boosting local production.

He said the government must realize that a nation that cannot feed itself is not worth being called a nation. “We call ourselves the giant of Africa, now all the other small countries especially in West Africa are feeding Nigeria, especially through the Cotonou through Ghana and through Togo, this is an abomination in the olden days.”

Marcel Okeke, former Chief Economist of one of Nigeria’s top banks, Zenith Bank, said that while government officials may attribute the increase in the cost of foodstuffs to the impact of the pandemic, the major factors for the increase are insecurity and high foreign exchange rates due to the low value of the country’s currency.

“Our naira is dead, so because of that whatever any person is importing he or she will spend so much importing it and when it comes here the person will be asking for an arm and a leg to cover the expenses,” Okeke noted. “The government propaganda that we are already producing so much of some food items is not true. It is the clear indication of those massive importation of
those food items that drives up the prices of the variety in the market. And it is what is in the market that the bureau of statistics will reflect not the claim of government.”

This piece was produced in partnership with the ONE Campaign, a global campaign and advocacy organization. For more information on the impacts of conflict, climate change, and COVID’s impacts in Africa, subscribe to ONE’s Aftershocks newsletter or explore the data.