PLIGHT OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS CAMPS IN NIGERIA, 2000 – 2019

Felicia Itodo

National Defence College,

Abuja, Nigeria.

Abstract

Internal displacement is gradually becoming an international scourge which is utmost concern to world leaders, national governments and humanitarian organizations. These displacements which have a myriad of drivers have impacted negatively on internal displaced persons globally especially the vulnerable segments of women and children. This paper therefore examines the plight of children and women in Internally Displaced Persons’ camps. The study focused on the IDP camps at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja using historical methodology where primary and secondary sources were highly relied on. The paper argues that despite the fact that internally displaced persons suffer deplorable conditions; women and children are the worst hit. It further argues that even though, policy frameworks have been put in place by the United Nations and the Nigerian government to protect internally displaced persons especially the vulnerable women and children, the policies remains in the books as the plight of women and children is deplorable. The paper recommends that the government apart from checkmating the drivers of internal displacement in Nigeria, the UN guiding principles and the National Policy on Internally Displaced Persons should be implemented to the letter with improved funding and punitive measures for those who violate the rules.

Key words: Women Children, Internally Displaced Persons, Camps

Introduction

The term internally displaced Persons has defied internationally agreed definition. However, the United Nations (UN) has defined Internally Displaced Persons as “persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obligated to flee or to have cause to leave their homes or place of habitual residence in particular, as a result of or in order to avoid the effect of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and they must have either remain within their own national borders”.¹From this definition of the United Nations, any cause either man made or natural that led to the movement of people from their homes out of fear, such persons have become internally displaced as far as the displacement has not taken such persons outside the internationally recognized national frontiers. Over the years, thousands of people worldwide have fled their homes and abandoned their means of livelihood by virtue of eruption of violence or other forms of threats to their lives and existence.

According to IDMC‟s estimate gathered from a study and published in 2016, there are almost 2,152,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Nigeria as of 31 December 2015.² This figure according to IDMC is scattered across 207 Local Government Areas (LGA) covering 13 States of Northern Nigeria including the Federal Capital Territory: Out of these humongous figure, women consist of about 53 percent while men make up the remaining 47 percent in sex classification. The demography also reveals that more than 56 percent of the total IDP populations are children of which more than half are about the age of 5 years, while 42 percent are adults.³ The vulnerability of displaced women and children subjects them to further deprivation, abuse and psychological trauma. They suffer from different problems such as poverty, psychological trauma, malnutrition, sickness, insecurity in the camps, and lack of access to education amongst others.⁴

Literature abound on the discourse of Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria with respect to the plight and problems they faced, These studies however focuses more on the Internally Displaced Persons in camps in the North East leaving out camps in Abuja which may be considered as cosmopolitan. This paper therefore examines the plight of women and children in displaced persons camps in Abuja. The paper is presented thematically in seven themes which include introduction, emergence of IDP camps in Abuja, drivers of internal displacement, IDP Camps in Abuja, the plight of women and children, mitigation efforts and conclusion.

Emergence of Internal Displacement in Nigeria

Internal displacement in Nigeria is not a new phenomenon. In the first decade of Nigeria’s independence, the nation recorded a very high number if not the highest record of Internal Displacement in Nigeria so far. The displacement was spurred by the Nigerian civil war which lasted from 1967 to 1970. Although it is difficult to determine the exact number of people displaced during this period due to conflicting figures and unreliable data, several sources have estimated that over 3 million people were either displaced or in need of humanitarian assistance within and across the borders during the war.⁵ Having overcome the civil war, several inter-communal/ inter-ethnic clashes have led to displacement of peoples in several parts of the country. Displacement of people were rampant as a result of crisis in North Central Nigeria especially in states such as Taraba, Plateau, Nasarawa, and Benue between 2000 and 2002 and have centered on the issues of land, boundaries, and indigenes/settlers. Kaduna, Niger and other North Western States also felt the brunt of crisis with the political-religious crisis of Shariah which held sway between 2000 and 2002. In that crisis, more than 30,000 people were displaced during four days of the conflict in Kaduna.⁶

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in 2012 registered over 80 Internally Displaced Persons camps in 26 states across the six geopolitical zones. According to reports of NEMA, not all displaced persons were as a result of conflict as more than 350,000 people were displaced due to Natural disasters, communal and ethno-religious clashes, and electoral violence Displacement due to clashes between nomadic herdsmen and rural farmers in some parts of the country, particularly where large expanses of farmland has eaten up into traditional grazing routes of pastoralists, has created tension and violent clashes between communities. Renewed clashes over land between ethnic Tivs and nomadic Fulanis in Benue state also led to the displacement of an estimated 15,000 people since March 2012.⁷

The most part of the current spate of internal displacement is occasioned by the Boko Haram crisis in North Eastern Nigeria. The crisis which is traceable to a religious sect under the leadership of Muhammed Yusuf unleashed terror on the peoples of the North Eastern Region from 2008 and the nation is still battling to confront the menace. The internal displacement of persons occasioned by the Boko Haram conflict is indeed overwhelming. Despite conflicting reports and unverifiable data, the total number of displaced persons in the North East as a result of the crisis is well over one million. As of October 2016, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in collaboration with National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in its 12th round of Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) programme estimated the total number of Internally Displaced Persons to be close to two million in the North East alone.⁸It is instructive to state that in Nigeria, the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs develops and coordinates strategies to address internal displacement while the National Emergency Management Agency coordinates humanitarian response and the implementation of the national disaster framework with branches in every state. Nigeria had a humanitarian response plan in 2018 with a budget of $1.05 billion, funded at 66.9 per cent.⁹

Drivers of Internal Displacement

There are several drivers of internal displacement and most of these drivers are the same world over with little variation with respect to nations. These drivers include: armed conflict, general violence, human rights violations and disasters.¹⁰ Scholars simply categorized drivers of Internal Displacement as man-made and natural drivers. However, the following are some of the drivers of internal displacement in Nigeria.

1. Political conflict driver: This is a major driver of internal displacement all over the world. Political disagreement that resulted to conflicts could lead to displacement of persons. Several displacements in Nigeria could be attributed to political conflicts. In Nigeria, for example, the electoral violence in 2011 in Plateau and Bauchi that led to deaths and displacement of people is driven by politics 
2. Communal conflict driver: This is another major driver of internal displacement in Nigeria. Communities do have varied interest and the attachment to ancestral cultures and community patriotism often leads to clashes between communities. Several communities in the North Central part of Nigeria have engaged in several communal conflicts that have forced people to leave their homes for fear of death or reprisals thus getting displaced.
3. Ethnic conflict driver:  This driver is slightly different from the communal conflict driver to internal displacement. While the communal conflict, the parties may be of same ethnic groups sharing same language and culture but of different communities, the ethnic conflict involves parties of entirely different ethnicities. While some of these drivers may overlap, some are distinct in its cause.  There have been cases of several ethnic related conflicts especially in Kano, Lagos and Enugu states of Nigeria. The Nigerian Civil War is also seen to be occasioned by the ethnic conflict driver.
4. Religious Conflict driver: Religious conflict driver to internal displacement refers to conflicts that led to displacement form religious angle. There are several religious conflict drivers in the Northern part of Nigeria that leads to displacement. The Shariah crisis of 2000 in Kaduna, the Miss World crisis in the North, the incessant Jos crisis in Plateau State amongst others. It has however been argued that some of these conflicts are caused by multiple drivers.
5. Boko Haram insurgency driver: The Boko Haram conflict has accounted for most of the internal displacement in the country today and that is why it is being singled out as a driver. The crisis which has led to the displacement of over 2 million persons and has brought untold sufferings and hardship on the people. Most of the IDP camps in Northern Nigeria today is as a result of this driver.¹¹
6. Natural disaster driver: Natural disaster such as flood, earthquake, oil spillage could also drive internal displacement. These natural disasters have ways of forcefully ejecting people from their homestead for temporal habitation. About 10,000 people were displaced in the Niger Delta region where oil was discovered in the early 60s. Environmental degradation has taken place since then. Over 1 million persons have also been displaced due to erosion and desertification since 2009 according to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA)¹²
7. Economic conflict driver: according to scholars of conflict, almost all conflicts are tried to the economy be it political, social and religious. They argue that conflicts have an economic base. However that argument, there have been several conflicts that have led to internal displacement that is driven by the economic factor. The popular Farmer-herder clashes in Nigeria is a major case study here in Nigeria. There is no substantial figure but NEMA has estimated that over 500,000 persons have been displaced by the Farmer-Herder clashes especially in Benue and other North Central States.¹³
8. Government Policy driver: Government policies could also be a driver of displacement. Action of the Nigerian government in the Bakassi peninsula has displaced over 2.5 million persons from 1967 to date. Displacement also occurred with the location of Abuja as the Federal Capital Territory. Several other government gigantic projects also displace the original inhabitants of the area in Nigeria. Although, there is always of plan of .resettlement’, this plan has always been on paper or dies with the passage of the government.¹⁴

The Internally Displaced Persons Camps in the Federal Capita Territory, Abuja

The Federal Capital Territory, Abuja was set up through Decree No. 6 of 1976. It has been the seat of government, officially relocated from Lagos, since December 1991. The population at the time was estimated at 500,000 within its entire 8,000 square kilometres. Population figures are currently at two million in central Abuja and an additional four million around satellite towns.¹⁵Due to the rampaging crisis of internal displacement fuelled by the Boko-Haram crisis, Abuja had no choice to bear the burden of overflowing IDPs fleeing the Boko-Haram menace in the Nort-Eastern region of the country.

One of the earliest IDP camps in Abuja was established in 2011 to cater to the needs of people displaced by Boko Haram crisis as explained earlier in states like Borno, Gombe, Adamawa and other states of North-Eastern Nigeria. The camp was located in Durumi area of the Federal Capital Territory. It was initially set up as a temporary shelter for displaced personsbut it has since grown to become a more permanent settlement, with little or no basic amenities to cater for its bulging population. Another camp was set up for the people displaced by the communal clashes in Nasarawa state at Kuchingoro area in the year 2018. This camp which also started as a makeshift settlement has now become a full fledged camp with the teeming population in the camp.¹⁶ Abuja being in a strategic location at the heart of Nigeria and bounded by Crisis prone Central Nigerian states of Benue, Plateau and Nasarawa, more camps soon sprang up in quick succession to cater for internally displaced persons from these states. In 2019, the Gwagwalada IDP camp was established to cater for the people displaced by flood. In the same year, the new Kuchingoro IDP camp was also established to cater for the needs of people displaced. By the year 2020, the Wassa IDP camp was established to cater for the people displaced in the Wassa Area of the Federal Capital Territory. The Federal Capital Territory, Abuja has played host to about 10 Internally Displaced Persons Camps housing close to 13,000 persons displaced by either crisis, natural disasters and government policies.¹⁷

Surveys conducted in IDP camps in the Federal Capital Territory reveals that most of the displaced persons living in these camps are sheltered in blocks of uncompleted buildings. The IDPs have no access to electricity at the camp, nor do they have any running water, with the only source of water being a single manual borehole. On the other hand, New Kuchingoro camp is more organized and has received much more government intervention, as well as assistance of various humanitarian agencies and individuals. In contrast to other camps in the Federal Capital territory, New Kuchingoro camp has more economic activities with power supply, which create a slightly more vibrant environment. This is further exemplified by the presence of a school on the premises. The population of the camp is estimated to be above 1700 people. The Waru Community is not an IDP camp in that it is not officially recognized as such. It consists of a host community behind Apo mechanic village, in Southern Abuja that accommodates more than 1000 displaced persons, the majority from Borno state.¹⁸

The Plight of women and Children in IDP camps

As discussed earlier, women and children make over 60% of the total number of Internally Displaced Person in Nigeria and because of the vulnerability of these group, they tend to suffer more as residents of the IDP camps. To mark the 2018 International women’s day, a Non-Governmental Organization decried that some women and children are in deplorable conditions in some organized and unorganized displaced persons camps world over, including Nigeria. According to the group, an overwhelming majority of Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria are women and children. Even though there are varying statistics about the exact figure of internally displaced persons in northern Nigeria, all sources assessed indicated that, women and children constitute more than 50 percent of the Internally Displaced Camps formation. In December 2015, Internally Displaced Monitoring Centre (IDMC) estimated that there are almost 2,152,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Nigeria. The IDP population according to the report comprised of 53 % women and 47% men. While more than 56% of the total IDP populations are children.¹⁹

Due to the vulnerability of this group, they tend to suffer more as residents of the IDP camps. Below are some of the plight faced by women and children in the camps in the Federal Capital Territory:

1. Lack of health care facilities and poor sanitation: Women being the weaker sex and children are more susceptible to health challenges. They are easy to contact diseases and infection. Poor medical facilities which accommodate growth of infectious bacteria, fungi and virus in the bodies of the IDPs. Unfortunately most of the IDP camps in Abuja lack adequate healthcare services and the sanitary condition is in deplorable mess. Women and pregnant women cannot access adequate health services and children are given birth to in camps without the attendance of any medical personnel. This lack of adequate health services has led to worsening health conditions of some of the IDPs.

• Sexual abuse and child molestation: Women especially young girls and children suffer sexual abuse and child molestation from male residents in the camps and even camp officials who take advantage of these young ladies and children in the cover of the night to perpetrate this nefarious act. Amina recanted how she was sexually assaulted by two persons who came in mask and took turns to defile her.²⁰ Children especially minors are not left out of this molestation. Incidents of unwanted pregnancies, rape, child and sexually transmitted diseases have been recorded in some of these camps. Studies observed that majority of reported cases of sexual violence, is usually against the women and girl-child who experience variations of physical dangers compared to men.²¹ Women are considered most vulnerable and often exposed to a high degree of risk, which ranges from sexual exploitation to becoming victims of domestic violence or being impregnated by enemy soldiers, the only difference here is that, most of the women were molested by those that were charged with the responsibly of providing care and security for those in the IDPs.

• Child labour: Child labour is bound to occur among the IDPs as a by-product of pitiable economic condition of displaced parents who cannot fend for their families. Threatened by hunger and lack, IDPs families may resort to sending their children to work, hawk or beg for arms as a means of survival. Consequently, children who are supposed to go to school are denied their fundamental right to education as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Thus children suffer considerably in this regard due to their displacement.

• Insecurity in IDPs Camps: The level of insecurity in the camps in Nigeria is alarming. The situation has vividly been described as a situation of running from insecurity to insecurity and that of double jeopardy. Yet to recover from psychological trauma of loss of families, friends and properties, displaced persons are faced with security challenge coupled with a responsibility to protect themselves in their various camps. The inadequacy of security at the IDP camps opens them to attacks from terrorists and armed robbers.²²
• Hunger and Restricted Movement

Several respondents noted that they were not allowed to go out of camp in spite of shortages in the supply of food and other items. A number of them stated that they had to beg camp officials to intervene with the guards before a pass can be given. Hence, it was very easy for camp official to take advantage of the Internally Displaced Persons. Some of the informants had this to say:

We are not allowed to go out to find work or get extra food. They usually distribute tickets sometimes at midnight. If you don’t get a ticket you will not get food. The IDP officials distribute the tickets to their families and girlfriends first before others. We used to get food at least twice a day when I first came to the camp, but now, sometimes we get nothing at all. We can’t even buy food ourselves because they will not let us go out.²³

• Mental and Psychological Health: The situation in which internally displaced persons find themselves is pathetic. Most of the displaced persons especially women lack mental health support. Many of the women and girls interviewed had bad experiences that affected their psychological well-being. Some of them stated that they have difficulty sleeping, and sometimes have a flash back of the attack that led to their displacement. A larger number of respondents noted that poor organization, overpopulation, inadequate supply of aids and greediness on the part of corrupt officials are some of the factors responsible for the plight of women in IDPs camp.²⁴

Mitigation efforts

The plight faced by women and children has been a source of concern to world leaders, national governments and humanitarian organizations and as such several meetings, high powered deliberations especially at the United Nations have been on going to find solutions to mitigate the effect of internal displacement on women and children. World over, the number of Internally Displaced Persons had reached more than 30 million by the beginning of the millennium. Thus, the early part of the decade became a watershed period; later triggering the much-needed development of human rights based framework and institutional response mechanisms for addressing internal displacement. The United Nations have a developed a threshold on protecting internally displaced persons. The UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement can be seen as follows:

1. Internally displaced persons shall enjoy equally all the rights and freedoms as other persons in their country.  Every human being has the right to dignity and physical, mental and moral integrity.  Internally displaced persons have the right to request and to receive protection and humanitarian assistance from national authorities. Certain internally displaced persons, such as children, especially unaccompanied minors, expectant mothers, mothers with young children, female heads of household, persons with disabilities and elderly persons, shall be entitled to any necessary special protection and assistance. 

• All internally displaced persons have the right to an adequate standard of living. At the minimum, regardless of the circumstances, and without discrimination, competent authorities shall provide internally displaced persons with and ensure safe access to: (i) Essential food and potable water; (ii) Basic shelter and housing; (iii) Appropriate clothing; and (iv) Essential medical services and sanitation. Special efforts should be made to ensure the full participation of women in the planning and distribution of these basic supplies. 

• All wounded and sick internally displaced persons as well as those with disabilities shall receive to the fullest extent possible and with the least possible delay, the medical care and attention they require, without distinction on any grounds other than medical ones. When necessary, internally displaced persons shall have access to psychological and social services. Special attention should be paid to the health needs of women, including access to female health care providers and services, such as reproductive health care, as well as appropriate counseling for victims of sexual and other abuses. Special attention should also be given to the prevention of contagious and infectious diseases, including AIDS, among internally displaced persons.  Every human being has the right to respect of his or her family life. To give effect to this right for internally displaced persons, family members who wish to remain together shall be allowed to do so. Families which are separated by displacement should be reunited as quickly as possible.

• Competent authorities have the primary duty and responsibility to establish conditions, as well as provide the means, which allow internally displaced persons to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, to their homes or places of habitual residence, or to resettle voluntarily in another part of the country. Such authorities shall make efforts to facilitate the reintegration of returned or resettled internally displaced persons.  Special efforts should be made to ensure the full participation of internally displaced persons in the planning and management of their return or resettlement and reintegration. 

• Every human being has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law. To give effect to this right for internally displaced persons, the authorities concerned shall issue to them all documents necessary for the enjoyment and exercise of their legal rights, such as passports, personal identification documents, birth certificates and marriage certificates. In particular, the authorities shall facilitate the issuance of new documents or the replacement of documents lost in the course of displacement, without imposing unreasonable conditions.  Authorities have the duty and responsibility to assist returned and/or resettled internally displaced persons to recover, to the extent possible, their property and possessions which they left behind or were dispossessed of upon their displacement. When recovery of such property and possessions is not possible, authorities shall provide or assist these persons in obtaining appropriate compensation.²⁵

The United Nation stressed that the above enumerated guiding principles on the management of internally displaced people  shall be applied without discrimination of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion or belief, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, legal or social status, age, disability, property, birth, or on any other similar criteria.²⁶However, in practice especially in Nigeria and camps in Abuja, these principles seems not to be in operation as almost all provisions are more of a mirage.

The Nigerian government also in furtherance to the protection of the internally displaced persons enunciated the National Policy on Internally Displaced Persons in 2012. The policy provides a framework for national responsibility towards prevention and protection of citizens and, in some cases, non-citizens, from incidences of arbitrary and other forms of internal displacement, meets their assistance and protection needs during displacement, and ensures their rehabilitation, return, reintegration and relocation after displacement. The policy spells out principles guiding humanitarian assistance and implementation of durable solutions in situations of internal displacement in Nigeria. This policy has adopted the human rights-based approach and its principles. The intention is to accommodate, as much as possible, the provisions of existing international conventions, treaties and protocols on internal displacement, guided by the dictates of international humanitarian and human rights laws. This policy, therefore, draws extensively on the guidance of international and national frameworks on the prevention of internal displacement, as well as those on protection and assistance of internally displaced persons.²⁷

The National Policy on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria provides important protection for women and children in IDP camps in Nigeria. Paragraph 2.4.1 (a) of the Policy recognizes that the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has the primary responsibility of protecting and assisting its citizens in the event of internal displacement. Paragraph 2.4.1 (d) states that designing, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of interventions targeting internally displaced persons or their host communities must actively involve them at all stages. They must be carried along in decision-making processes, and be duly consulted and informed on decisions related to their relocation, provision of relief, rehabilitation, return, resettlement or re-integration. They must also be actively involved in the management of relief, resettlement and rehabilitation camps, and conscious effort must be made to include women and children in such decision-making processes. This takes a democratic approach to management of IDPs and provides important decision making powers for women and children in IDP camps which they can take advantage to protect themselves.²⁸

The National policy is a laudable one to protect the rights and privileges of internally displaced persons especially that of women and children, but as the case of the United Nations guiding principles, these codes, rights and pronouncements are more theoretical than practical especially in the camps situated in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. From the preceding themes, we have recounted experiences from internally displaced persons on the trauma, sufferings and conditions they are subjected to in these internally displaced persons’ camps.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The study has attempted to historicize internally displacement in Nigeria and the emergence of Internally Displacement Camps in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The paper argued that there are several factors that drives internal displacement in Nigeria and the current spate of displacement in Nigeria was occasioned by the Boko-Haram conflict. This is not to undermine the several number of internally displaced persons driven by communal violence, farmer-herder clashes and natural disasters. The internally displaced persons live in a deplorable condition despite regulating framework developed by the United Nations and the Nigerian government to protect and preserve the right and sanctity of the displaced persons especially the vulnerable women and children. From the majority of the respondents submissions, it is evidently clear that the internally displaced persons are facing many challenges especially women and children and the following measures are suggested to curbing the challenges faced by Internally Displaced Persons, most especially women.

1. There should be improved funding for the IDP camps
2. IDPs camps should be well planned and organized to avoid chaotic situation that leads to molestation and other vices.
3. The total population of camp residents should be known and documented by officials in order to make adequate provisions of aids and food supply.
4. Male camp officials should be restricted from having unrestrained access to females on camp, this will help reduce sexual molestation and sexual assault, harassment and exploitation.
5. More female security personnel should be posted to camps to protect women and girls from sexual exploitation and rape.
6. Reported cases of rape, sexual exploitation, molestation and so on should be taken seriously; and culprits should be punished to serve as deterrent to others with similar intention.

Notes

1. Grace W. Akuto, “Challenges of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria: Implications for Counselling and the Role of Key Stakeholders ”International Journal of Innovative Psychology & Social Development 5(2) (2017) 21-27

2. Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre Report, www.internaldisplacement.org, 2016. Retrieved 1^st August, 2023, 56

3. Okoro Paul Mmahi, “The Impact Of Internal Displacement On Women And Children In Nigeria” International Journal of Innovative Research and Advanced Studies (IJIRAS) Volume 3 Issue 8, (July 2016): 45

4. Okoro Paul Mmahi, “The Impact Of Internal Displacement On Women And Children In Nigeria, 49

5. K.E. Orji and S.N. Uebari, “Nigerian Civil War and Refuge Crisis: The fate of minorities in the former Eastern Region” IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, vol1, no.1, (2013): 6

6. S. Egwu, “Ethnic Crisis and Internal Displacement in Nigeria: Socio-Political Dimensions and Solutions” A paper presented at the Multi-Stakeholders conference on Internal Displacement in Nigeria, 2011, 4

7. National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Report, 2016, 33

8. Fatima Kyari Mohammed, “The Causes and Consequences of Internal Displacement in Nigeria and Related Governance Challenges” Working Paper Division Global Issues StiftungWissenschaft und Politik German Institute for International and Security Affairs S, 2017, 23

9. Steven Ambrus, Internal Displacement Index Report, (IMDC, 2020), 19

10.Joy UzoamakaAgbonifo, The Plight of IDP Women: A Gender and Intersectional Analysis of the Experiences of Internally Displaced Women in IDP Camps (Netherlands: International Institute of Social Studies, 2020), 41

11. Joy UzoamakaAgbonifo, The Plight of IDP Women: A Gender and Intersectional Analysis of the Experiences of Internally Displaced Women in IDP Camps (Netherlands: International Institute of Social Studies, 2020), 42

12. Fatima Kyari Mohammed, “The Causes and Consequences of Internal Displacement in Nigeria and Related Governance Challenges” Working Paper Division Global Issues StiftungWissenschaft und Politik German Institute for International and Security Affairs S, 2017, 35

13. National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Report, 2016, 18

14. Interview with Andrew Jatto, 44 years, former camp official, Abuja, 14^th November, 2022

15. Fatima Kyari Mohammed, “The Causes and Consequences of Internal Displacement in Nigeria and Related Governance Challenges” Working Paper Division Global Issues StiftungWissenschaft und Politik German Institute for International and Security Affairs S, 2017, 37

16. S. Egwu, “Ethnic Crisis and Internal Displacement in Nigeria: Socio-Political Dimensions and Solutions” A paper presented at the Multi-Stakeholders conference on Internal Displacement in Nigeria, 2011, 5

17. Joseph IshakuAdedejiAdeniranChukwukaOnyekwena ,Building the Resilience of Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria (Marco: Castradori  2020), 29

18. Joseph IshakuAdedejiAdeniranChukwukaOnyekwena ,Building the Resilience of Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria (Marco: Castradori  2020), 30

19. Steven Ambrus, Internal Displacement Index Report, (IMDC, 2020), 87

20. Interview with Amina, 24 years, tailor, Abuja, 12^th November, 2022

21. ChristelleCazabat, Women and Girls in internal displacement, International Displacement Monitoring Centre, March 2020, 62

22. The plight of women and children in Nigeria’s IDP camps, Retrieved from www.ynaija.com/idp-women-children, 08 Mar 2016

23. ChristelleCazabat, Women and Girls in internal displacement, International Displacement Monitoring Centre, March 2020, 64

24. D. S. Adekeye, O.A.  Ajayi, & O.A. Fawole, “Terrorism and the Plight of Women In Internally Displaced Persons Camps in Nigeria” Osun Sociological Review, Vol. 5No.1 (201):49-59

25. United NationsGuiding Principle on Internal Displacement, 2010, 34

26. Okoro Paul Mmahi, “The Impact of Internal Displacement on Women And Children In Nigeria, 49

27. Federal Republic of Nigeria, National Policy on Internally Displaced Persons (Abuja: Government Printers, 2021), 46-50

28. B. E. Okere, “The Legal Protection of Women and Children In IDP Camps: The Current Realities” The Journal of Law and Policy Volume 3, Issue 4, (2022): 57

COMMENT

Nice paper

Publishable in the present form with minor correction