Invisible People Situating IDPs in Nigeria’s Policies and Economy

Nigeria needs durable solutions that address the many challenges its displaced populations face. With 2.6 million IDPs, addressing displacement in Nigeria is both a moral and economic obligation. 

As of 2019, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), there were 50.8 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) around the world. In particular, Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, has about 2.6 million people living in displacement. Several factors contribute to displacement in Nigeria. Since 2014, Boko Haram’s insurgency has led to considerable displacement in the North East. Additionally, farmer-herder tensions in the Middle Belt and North West have caused eruptions of criminal and communal violence that have caused people to flee their homes. Climate change also factors into this issue, with flooding triggering most of the 157,000 new displacements from natural disasters in 2019. These challenges are unending and create a continuous cycle of people being displaced, often more than once in their lifetime. Nigeria needs durable solutions that address the many challenges its displaced populations face.

 

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