Insurgent violence in Nigeria, has escalated into different uncontrollable dimensions. More than one decade after the issue of Boko haram began and despite numerous attempts by the state and other stakeholders to stop the violence, we have kept on grappling with the same issue beginning from the issue of Boko haram to ISIS in West Africa, to ISWAP, to cattle rustling and violent herders only to mention but a few. More to it is the willingness of gullible Nigerians to be recruited into the sects and cause havoc to their supposed fatherland. Although scholars differ on the cause(s) of the violence, nevertheless, there is a strong unanimity that the violence has created complex emergencies, including loss of lives, high levels of diseases, poverty, socioeconomic disparities, rising gender inequality, educational decline, loss of revenue and income, internal displacement, and many less tangible costs.
The current violent extremist crisis is one of the most severe humanitarian crises in the country. Since its
outbreak in 2009 to date over 2.9 million people have been displaced internally most of which are from the North East. Such high levels of displacement have had a significant economic and social
impact on host communities, the nature of which is complex, dynamic and context driven.
We have continued to complain about the staggering number of displaced people in the North East prior to 2020. But it has become imperative to be conscious of a new reality of spill-over of violence in every other states of the country including the FCT.
As a result of this new reality, there is now need for new camps, and even in some instances, the integration of IDPs in some communities. It is pertinent to note that while the above solution of integrating IDPs in some host communities has helped in addressing temporarily the issue of displacement, it has also created another problem which is THE ISSUE OF COMPETITION OF SCARCE RESOURSES WITH THE HOST COMMUNITIES (though that is not to insinuate that it is the only problem or challenge to contend with).
