The Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) has estimated that the nation lost $10.3 billion last year to insecurity. At its last regular meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, the council chaired by Professor Doyin Salami, put the whopping figure as the economic cost of the criminal activities of terrorists, bandits, farmers/herdsmen clash, kidnappers, etc. in one year.
Doubtless, it is timely to draw the nation’s attention to the economic haemorrhage caused by the violent activities of some elements in the society.
However, it seems that adequate attention is not given to the more devastating and enduring costs – the humanitarian and other moral crises arising from the worsening insecurity in Nigeria.
There is hardly any sense of alarm when the humanitarian dimension of the crisis comes on display.
To put it mildly, it is worrisome that international humanitarian agencies appear to raise louder alarms about the sordid conditions in the camps of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) than Nigerians themselves and their organisations. This is not to deny the compassionate and valiant efforts of individuals and organisations to mitigate the sufferings of the displaced. The dimension of the crisis shows that a lot more needs to be done.
Besides, there is the outrageous news of dehumanisation from the camps. Women and children have been reportedly raped and their vulnerabilities callously exploited. There have been shocking stories of corruption in the management of relief materials. Some of the official claims about the care for the needy in the IDPs camps have been severely contested.
Only last month, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state said more than a million persons are displaced in the state alone. There was hardly a sense of outrage felt in the land about this human story.
In the last few weeks, there have been fire outbreaks in Goverment Girls Secondary School Camp, Kuya Primary School Camp, and Waterboard Camp in Borno state. About 2,416 shelters of 9,517 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have been reportedly destroyed. Beyond the figures appearing in the headlines, the human story from a typical camp of IDPs is that of abysmal lack of food, water, shelter, healthcare, sanitation etc. It is the story deprivation and misery. Women and children in particular are the worst affected categories in the camps.
Another estimate puts the number of IDPs in the northeast of Nigeria alone at about three million. The camps are not spared of attacks by the terrorists. Some of those displaced have been in the camps for years because their homes remain unsafe. The camps, by definition, are supposed to be temporary. That seems not be the case anymore.
Yet the magnitude of the dehumanising impact of the crisis is being downplayed as policymakers and their experts reduce everything to mere statistics.
But, in real terms we are talking of a matter of flesh and blood. It is an issue of stunted human development and a case of the future being put in jeopardy.
For over a decade now, the enormous human cost of the crisis has been subsumed in politics. Sadly, this politics is sometimes played in a manner that smacks of sheer inhumanity and cynicism.
In a way, it speaks volumes for our collective humanity.
When Buhari was first elected in 2015, there were some camps of IDPs mainly in the northeast.Today more camps have since emerged in other zones of the country.
International conventions based on humaneness demand that the condition of the vulnerable persons in emergencies should be squarely addressed in any crisis. In particular, it should always be remembered that among the displaced are orphans and widows. For years, there have been reports of births in the poor conditions of the camps. Some of the babies born six years ago in camps might end up having a good part of their childhood in the squalid conditions. This is because of the endless climate of insecurity pervading the country.
Specifically, the education and health needs of the children are so obvious in many of the camps that they do not need much advocacy to change the condition. In an environment in which a majority of those who are lucky not be displaced are themselves stuck in the shackles of poverty, the fate of those living in poorly equipped camps could be imagined.
The disruption of school calendar in the northern part of the country due to the activities of bandits and kidnappers is another huge human cost of insecurity. About 800 schools (especially the boarding ones) have been reportedly closed in the northern states. The grave issue is what happens to the future of a generation driven out of schools by bandits. Some of the Chibok girls abducted seven years ago from their secondary school are yet to regain their freedom. Among the students abducted six years ago from a secondary in Dapchi, Borno state, a girl, Leah Sharibu, is the only one still captivity. She turned 18 last week. Some of the university students abducted this year in Kaduna have been killed. The immense moral cost on the psychology of the kidnapped students and their families is similarly not subject to easy calculations.
The safe school idea is yet to crystalise into concrete steps to ensure security especially in boarding schools which appear more vulnerable.
The government has been seeking external help to also tackle the humanitarian crisis; the greater challenge, however, is to arouse a sense of our common humanity within Nigeria itself to the plight of the internally displaced persons and other victims of violent crimes.
Furthermore, there should be no illusion about the issue: it requires well- coordinated responses from the federal and state governments as well as philanthropic organisations for the burgeoning humanitarian crisis to be be definitively solved.
In the northeast, for instance, it will take the end of the insurgency for those who are displaced to return home. Clearly defined moral and material components are required for the rebuilding the zone ravaged by the Boko Haram war. Even after 12 years, indications are that it may take some time more to bridge the humanitarian deficits even with the efforts of the North East Development Commission. And a lot of accountability and transparency would be required in the operations of the commission.
The internally displaced victims of the crisis should be accorded the most humane treatment as expected in a civilised society. So, attention should be paid to the operations of those are working to provide relief to the IDPs. The military authorities and security agencies should ensure the access of aid workers to those in need of succour. The corollary to this is that the environment of the aid workers in all parts of Nigeria should also be secure.
In sum, the government should pay a greater attention to the human and moral costs of insecurity.
