When the 1994 Rwanda genocide began, the international community didn’t pay much attention because most of the foreign journalists that would’ve reported it left with those evacuated. It later took a video from one of the last journalists to leave for the world to realise that a massacre of unimaginable proportion was taking place. But before they could act, the rebel Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) saved the day by marching into Kigali, the capital and thereby setting off a refugee crisis – also of immense proportion – that would later engulf the entire Great Lakes region.
The point I’m trying to make is that journalist play a key role is letting us know what is happening in our world because events that go unreported often end up unnoticed. This is the case with two issues I will be dealing with today; the alleged herdsmen killings in some parts of the country and the hunger crisis in the northeast as a result of the Boko Haram (BH) insurgency.
It took a massive demonstration of Idoma’s from Benue State for the searchlight to be beamed on the killings that took place in Agatu – one of its local government councils. After waiting for help for weeks, the people mobilised and converged at the National Assembly complex in faraway Abuja to bring their plight to the public domain; in essence, they took their destiny in their hands and ensured their voices are heard and government live up to its primary responsibility of protecting lives and properties of citizens.
During the peaceful demonstration in March this year, they reminded Senators that over 300 of their compatriots have been killed with 5,000 internally displaced. Unfortunately, the killings still persists and if unchecked a food crisis looms – if it is not already happening – in that largely agrarian society. Farming is their mainstay and it does not take a prophet to prophesy that if they do not farm this farming season, the result would certainly be a food crisis. How can they even farm when they do not know when the alleged herdsmen would be “visiting?”
Their Tiv neighbours in the same state are suffering the same fate. I received reports from Gaambe-Tiev community in Logo local government area which is one of the numerous areas these alleged herdsmen have struck more than twice. I was told that the Restoration Church in Anyiin is now serving as an IDP camp with over 3,000 people there – there is no IDP camp close by. Just like with the Agatu’s, a food crisis looms if they people cannot farm this year.
When the present administration in Benue State came to power last year it rolled out an amnesty programme where citizens were urged to surrender all weapons in their possession. They were rewarded with cash ranging from N10,000 to N100,000 depending on the weapon submitted. The wisdom was to have a state devoid of communal crises. But some are now alleging that the Benue situation is pathetic and smirks – according to some – of a silent conspiracy because the people’s flank have been left open with no weapon to defend themselves in the face of largely unprovoked alleged herdsmen attacks.
At a point “Benue Massacre” trended on social media platforms with Nigerians accusing the government of insensitivity by commiserating with foreign governments over deaths of their citizens while turning a blind eye to what is happening in their own country. This was the case with the Bama and other killings as well.
My focus on Benue is not to relegate to the background other killings in Plateau, Kogi, Enugu and other areas, but to draw attention to an issue that demand urgent national attention.
Most Nigerians living in the northeast will not readily forget the year 2009. It was in that year that the Boko Haram tragedy snowballed into a full blown insurgency. Over the years, it has led to widespread displacement of hard working citizens, violations of international humanitarian and human rights law and most importantly a growing food crisis. Recent successes recorded by Nigerian troops in the fight against the group forced the government to declare a food and nutrition emergency in Borno State when access was restored to communities cut off for over two years.
Seven years of conflict has left farmlands devastated resulting in high food prices, inflation, and major disruptions to livelihoods and farming. Evidence from the March 2016 Cadre Harmonisé Integrated Food Security Phase Classification and United Nations’ agencies rapid needs assessments indicates that an estimated 617,000 children are currently suffering from acute malnutrition. An estimated 250,000 children in Borno alone are acutely malnourished, according to recent UNICEF reports. Those numbers in and of themselves signal an appalling level of human suffering.
It is instructive to point out here that we have near accurate figures to work with because of the field work carried out by UN and other aid agencies that are versed in these issues. Such figures – and the level of sufferings – are not readily available for other parts of the country.
Despite government’s declaration of a nutrition emergency, aid agencies said it remains desperately underfunded. Of the $279 million requested to deliver the Humanitarian Response Plan, only $78.5 million (28 percent) has actually been funded.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 20,000 people have been killed, and over 2,000 women and girls have been abducted. 2.5 million people have fled their homes, of whom 2.2 million are internally displaced, and 177,000 are seeking refuge in the neighbouring countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
The figures are certainly grim, 7 million people are in need of emergency, life-saving assistance in the four worst-affected states, Adamawa, Borno, Gombe and Yobe, of which an estimated 3 million are caught up in insecure and inaccessible areas.
Some Nigerians are still struggling to believe that 92 per cent of internally displaced people are seeking refuge among host communities, where resources and basic services are being exhausted, leading to risky livelihood strategies amongst displaced and hosting communities alike. Escaping from attacks in rural areas, IDPs are taking shelter in the relative safety of urban centres, causing overcrowding in already inadequate living conditions and putting resources and basic services under huge strain. For instance, Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, has seen its population more than double with the influx of people displaced from other areas of the state.
The crisis is affecting 3.8 million children, many of whom have been subject to violations including forced recruitment into Boko Haram, and being used as suicide bombers. Women and girls have been trafficked, raped, abducted and forcibly married.
The misery did not end there; 3.9 million people are food insecure, and 2.5 million are malnourished, especially children and pregnant and lactating women. 1 million children are in need of emergency education. With the ongoing disruption to basic services like health care, clean water and sanitation, susceptibility to disease is high, like the cholera outbreak in September 2015 that infected over 1,000 people in IDP camps and surrounding communities in Maiduguri.
The “good” news however is that an estimated 262,324 people have returned to places of origin in northern Adamawa to find their communities devastated, houses and public infrastructure destroyed, and the security situation still fragile.
We need serious diplomacy and confidence building to address the issue of alleged herdsmen attacks. The herdsmen/farmers issue should be an issue of urgent national concern because of its adverse security implications. As at the time of writing this article, I haven’t read about any of the alleged herdsmen being apprehended. The implication is that people live in constant fear, and where fear persists people cannot go to their farms.
If left unchecked, people may be tempted to adopt the Governor Fayose’s model of forming vigilantes and laying siege on herdsmen. Anyone versed in statecraft would know this is the road to anarchy
This is the time for the government and all concerned to summon whatever political will there is to confront this issue head-on or we’d have a national food crisis – perhaps worse than the one being experienced in the northeast – to add to our present series of woes.
