Deteriorating conditions in the Northeast
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in its recent report covering a two-week period between May 16 – 31, lend credence to the voices calling attention to the deteriorating conditions in the Northeast and also in the Internally Displaced People’s camps scattered all over the north-eastern part of the country. According to OCHA, no fewer than 8.5 million people are in dire need of life-saving aid in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states all in the north-eastern part of the country. 5.2 million people are food insecure with the onset of the rainy and lean season; 204, 500 Nigerian refugees remain in Niger, Cameroon and Chad; 5.9 million people require emergency health care in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states. According to OCHA “With the onset of the rainy season, recent wind and rain storms have damaged and/or destroyed hundreds of shelters, latrines and learning centres, causing a lot of distress for displaced families. Due to shelter shortages, many are still sleeping outside, completely exposed to the elements (rainfalls, sandstorms, sun…).” In April this year, aid organisations working to stop the famine in Nigeria’s north-east raised alarm that donated money to provide humanitarian aid to about 4.7 million people displaced by the conflict with Islamist insurgency, Boko Haram, and facing starvation in the region will run out by June.
Despite the dire conditions of those affected, food and other relief materials meant for the needy in this region are constantly being diverted and sold in the open market by Nigerian officials.
Last week, Nigeria had to apologise to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after about 200 tonnes of date fruits the kingdom donated as Ramadan gifts to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) were found on sale in markets in Abuja and other parts of the country. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which tendered the apology, expressed “disappointment” over the “unfortunate turn of events” and said the matter is being investigated to avoid a repeat in the future. But this is Nigeria and if we know anything about this country, this will be the end of the matter.
More shamefully however is the admittance by the presidency, last week, that until now, over 50 trucks in every 100 trucks of food sent to the North-East to cater for those displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency were being diverted by unscrupulous officials. But wait for it, no one has been indicted or punished but government will try to adopt another distribution strategy to cut down on the theft.
Even the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE) set up by president Buhari to serve as the primary national strategy, coordination and advisory body for all humanitarian interventions, transformational and developmental efforts in the north east have been mired by corruption and unable to perform the function it was set up to perform.
The Senate investigation into the management of over N5 billion funds made available by the federal government for use of the IDPs and managed by PINE revealed mind-boggling fraud and mismanagement where the suspended secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal, took liberty with the funds awarding phony contracts indiscriminately to himself or his associates and accepting kick backs while those at the camps are left to die of hunger.
But these are not the only crimes being perpetrated by Nigerian government officials in the north east. More harrowing is the report by the Human Rights Watch, last year, which accused government and camp officials, vigilante groups, policemen and soldiers of systematically raping and sexually exploiting women and girls in the camps. Of course, after they have been starved to near death, the women and young girls have no option than to yield to the devilish wish of those ravenous officials just to for morsels of food to keep themselves, their hapless children and or families alive. Other than some half-hearted promise to investigate the abuse, the government has done nothing to improve conditions in the camps and have rather tightened access or movement in and out of the camps such that those in the camps have now become prisoners while journalists and investigators are barred from documenting actual happenings in the camps.
The experiences of the IDPs and the people of the northeast, in a way, demonstrate how Nigerian citizens encounter the Nigerian state. And those experiences – no doubt common among Nigerians – are principally why the state too has lost what C. Young and T. Turner call “the moral entitlement of the state to legitimacy”.
We urge the Nigerian state to rise up to its responsibilities. There is no way the state can continue to operate this way and expect its citizens to be patriotic.