On World Humanitarian Day, Mr. Dauda Toure (the United Nations Country Representative for Nigeria), stated that Nigeria has the highest number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the world. With a figure of 1.5 million IDPs, Toure stated that the major problem was the lack of access to the victims, as most of them are not in camps and rather placed in host communities.
Although NEMA has done a lot of work for IDPs of recent, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. We need more resources to be made available to these vulnerable citizens and we also need to pay attention to education and health care amongst IDPs. Toure has asked for the international community and NGOs to make more donations available to IDPs, in order to reconstruct the lives of victimised citizens, especially in the North East.
According to This Day the Director General of NEMA noted that the theme of this year’s event, “Inspiring the World’s Humanity”, was intended to inspire action by people around the world to demonstrate and demand greater humanity and create widespread support for human action. He stated: “The world which is now noted to be more volatile due to prevailing complex emergencies, has placed a serious burden on humanitarian workers who are working in risky environments in various countries to bring hope to the people affected by disasters. This is the time to show solidarity and commend their efforts.”
IDPs face several issues in Nigeria – death tolls continue to rise in IDP camps and human rights abuses are prevalent. Issues such as child sex-trafficking and sexual violence as a whole are regularly discussed on news, as recurring issues in IDP camps. The Victim Support Fund that was inaugurated under Jonathan’s administration, is supposed to serve as a major source of donation towards IDPs, however the majority of the funds that have been raised through the Victim Support Fund are being hoarded in several banks across the country. In order to help the current and unfortunate situation with IDPs across Nigeria, we need to ensure that the government prioritises the victims of terror and showcases transparency, while doing all that can be done at a Federal level, to ensure better welfare for IDPs.