While the armed violence in North Eastern Nigeria has affected millions of people, an estimated population of 2.1 million people are said to have been internally displaced with about 1.8million host population. This has also affected the Middle Belt which has suffered communal clashes just as the Niger Delta violence.
The humanitarian Needs of these population has continue to double especially in the north east where some of the communities were completely taken over by the Boko Haram insurgents and were cut off from Medicare and food, resulting to acute malnutrition both in adult and children.
While the situation continues to degenerate to an abysmal level ranging from lack of food leading to hunger, starvation and malnutrition both in adult and children; lack of Medicare services resulting to diseases and deaths among the displaced people, several humanitarian actors have engaged in interventions that would improve at least the living condition and health of the IDPs. One organization that has significantly scaled up its humanitarian response in the North east is the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
In 2016, the ICRC increased its humanitarian response for people in dire need in the North East of Nigeria and some other parts of the country where communal clashes and urban conflicts were visible. Of particular mention is the support and provision of food, shelter and essential household items. One other area of intervention carried out by the ICRC is increased access to clean water and medical care. It also strived to facilitate the restoration of missing or broken family ties caused as a result of the crisis in the region.
In Borno state for instance, ICRC together with the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) gained access to very difficult areas like Sabon Gari, Damboa, DIKwa, Monguno, Gamboru-Ngala etc where they assisted residents and IDPs with food, Medicare and shelter where necessary.
An investigation into the activities of the ICRC in the North East by our correspondent revealed that the organization is ranked very high amongst IDPs and many host communities of Borno and Yobe State apparently due to their effective humanitarian intervention during the Boko Haram crisis.
Restoration of missing family ties
Over one thousand disunited families as a result of the Boko Haram insurgents have been re-united in one way or the other through the efforts of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Nigerian Red Cross Society between January to August 2016 investigation has revealed.
According to a document obtained from the ICRC, nine children were flown from Dar es Salaam IDP camp in Chad back to Nigeria and reunited with their parents. The organization has also helped reunite family members by facilitating contacts with each other using Red Cross Messages and free phone calls.
A total of 1,078 new tracing files for persons searching for missing relatives were opened by the ICRC and the NRCS, while a total of 479 Red Cross messages were also exchanged among separated family members.
The document also reveals that 899 free phone calls were made available by the Red Cross to persons who were separated from their families.
Detention visits
ICRC have also embarked on visits of persons detained in connection with armed conflict and violence and provided support for the authorities on improving detention conditions of detainees. Under the period, a total of 21, 442 detainees in prisons, police and military detention facilities across Nigeria were visited by the ICRC, just as the water and hygiene facilities in those places were rehabilitated.
Livelihood Support and Micro-finance Initiatives
This is a Program that targets returnees who wished to resume farming in their communities, while cash was also given to people retuning to areas that there are functioning market to help them rebuild their homes. Its aim was to assist 162,000 IDPs and vulnerable persons living in widow or female headed household. Out of the number, 41,000 persons in Yobe received cash to purchase priority commodities by the end of July 2016, just as 16,000 returnees from Adamawa and Southern Borno were given livelihood input grant as well.
A total of 248,037 returnees from North East and Middle Belt were availed with agricultural inputs to resume farming again, while 69,624 IDPs in Borno and Yobe States including victims of urban violence in River State received cash to enable them purchase commodities of their choice.
Widows/female heads of families enjoyed serious assistance from the ICRC as 1000 of them were registered Borno State and were given cash for the running of their families. An additional 250 benefited from the micro-finance initiative.
Emergency Relief Assistance
One of the major concerns of the ICRC was to get to the hard-to-reach areas where there was severe food shortage and hunger. With some of them missing out on the planting season for more than 3 years, it is not an exaggeration that the people will remain dependent on handouts aid from donor agencies until such a time that their crops are harvested. Worried by the plight, ICRC provided food rations for three months to 892,040 IDPs in the North East, 319,516 IDPs both in the North East received essential household items with 51 NRCS, NEMA and SEMA were trained across Nigeria.
Healthcare
Like any other sector of human existence in the north east, the health sector had its fair share of the Boko Haram attacks on the region. Hospitals and health facilities were either burnt down or abandoned by the insurgents. Doctors, nurses and other health and medical personable were either killed, while those that survive fled to safer places leading to complete breakdown of the system.
The ICRC in a quick response provided support to primary and mobile state health clinics in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa through the regular medical supplies, equipment supply and training of staff. Two ICRC surgical teams also provided cares for the weapon wounded and IDPs in need of emergency surgical care in Maiduguri State Specialist Hospital.
A total of 308, 594 patients attended 14 ICRC supported Centre’s for primary health care and 6 mobile clinics serving IDPs, returnees and residents in Borno and Adamawa State.
A total of 10,499 children were in ICRC supported clinics in the North east, while 8,649 children who suffered from acute malnutrition were also treated at the ICRC supported clinics in Borno State.
A total of 1,488 weapon wounded patients were treated by the ICRC surgical team in Maiduguri, out of whom 326 were hospitalized. In a similar effort, a total of 6,700 casualties were treated and evacuated by ICRC supported NRCS emergency first aid teams of the First Aid program in 15 state with a training for community first aid responders in those states.
In addition, 2,425 people including military/police, religious groups, and weapon bearers also got a similar training. ICRC also provided mental health and psychosocial support to 158 IDPs in the region.
Shelter, Water and Sanitation
Statistic has shown that only 10% of the over 2milliom IDPs are living in IDP camps with the rest staying in host communities.
This has brought a lot of pressure on infrastructure both at the camps and in the communities with an excessive over-stretching of the existing facilities such as water and sanitation.
This has prompted the ICRC to intervene in this area by improving access to good water and hygiene. Consequently, a total of 130,000 returnees in the North east including the Middle Belt were assisted to have access to improved water and their hygiene and sanitation conditions.
In Adamawa and Borno States, a total of 24,800 IDPs living in camps received temporary or emergency shelter, while 1,400 returnees in Mubi (Adamawa) and 720 persons affected by communal clashes in Kaduna Bangai in Plateau state were supported by ICRC to rebuild their houses.
