•Strike Force should be manned by state security personnel in a democratic setting
The recent announcement by the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) that it is struggling to cater for some 200,000 Nigerian refugees in Niger, Chad and Cameroon is a sobering reminder that the after-effects of Boko Haram’s terror campaign are yet to be fully dealt with.
The refugees’ already-bleak situation has been worsened by the WFP’s funding shortages which make it unable to fully meet its commitments to feed, educate and provide medical care for them. Apparently, less than 50 per cent of required funds are available, with some U.S. $ 41.6 million still needed for the rest of 2015. The onset of the rainy season will further complicate matters, as does the fact that additional numbers of refugees are still stranded at Nigeria’s borders and yet to reach any camp.
Nothing sums up the tragedy of the Boko Haram insurgency like the plight of these refugees and the estimated 1.538 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) within Nigeria itself. Made up mainly of women and children, these are citizens who have lost virtually everything to a crisis they had no hand in creating. Most arrive at refugee camps having endured the trauma of dispossession and violence, traversing vast distances on foot and battered by hunger and disease.
Unlike their more fortunate compatriots elsewhere in Nigeria who face the challenges of relatively untroubled lives, refugees and IDPs are compelled to grapple with the fundamental question of survival. In the camps, they constantly worry about their prospects: re-starting livelihoods, obtaining medical care, education for their children, and most of all, returning to their homes. The global refugee crisis, which has seen the numbers of displaced people reach the record figure of 59.5 million, only underlines the dire urgency of their situation.
The Federal Government cannot allow its citizens to continue to suffer in this manner. The basic guarantee of security of life and property was betrayed by the previous administration; that failure should not be compounded by the inability to properly provide for refugees and IDPs.
In ameliorating the poor living conditions of Nigerian refugees and IDPs, more needs to be done to increase the capacity of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). The agency does not appear to be adequately structured to cope with challenges of this sort, especially given the huge numbers involved. Only recently, authorities of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) criticised the agency for what was alleged to be its indifference to injured Boko Haram victims being treated in the hospital.
NEMA apparently restricts much of its operations to the supply of relief materials to IDP camps; even this appears to be insufficient, and a host of charities and other non-governmental organisations have had to take up the slack.
Tragedies like the refugee/IDP crisis are stark reminders of the vital necessity of avoiding the tensions and hatreds which trigger the conflicts that lead to the mass displacement of citizens. It is unfortunately becoming far too easy for self-seeking individuals to inflame passions with reckless statements, confident in the knowledge that they will not be held to account.
Much of this is attributable to the general decline in the standards of political practice, as witnessed in the spate of personal attacks and hate speech which characterised the just-concluded general elections. The rise of ethnic militia, replete with egotistical individuals purporting to speak for whole ethnic nationalities, has aggravated the problem.
It would be a tragedy if Nigeria focuses on the military campaign to the detriment of those who have been displaced by the conflict. No true victory can be claimed while refugees and internally displaced persons continue to suffer.
‘The Federal Government cannot allow its citizens to continue to suffer in this manner. The basic guarantee of security of life and property was betrayed by the previous administration; that failure should not be compounded by the inability to properly provide for refugees and IDPs’
