WHAT initially started in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, as a mere skirmish between the police and members of a radicalised group, Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’Awati Wal-Jihad, popularly known as Boko Haram (Western education is forbidden), in July, 2009, when its then leader, Mohammed Yusuf, was killed in police custody, later snowballed into a massive insurgency in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria.
In its six years of waging war against the Nigerian state, which it wanted to supplant and replaced with an Islamic state, Boko Haram was reported to have killed over 14,000 innocent people through series of bomb attacks, assassinations and abductions of both Nigerians, the most popular being the April 14, 2014 abduction of about 200 schoolgirls from Chibok and foreigners.
The activities of the insurgent group have left many Nigerians displaced from their homes. While many sought refuge in neighbouring countries like Chad, Niger and Cameroon, others are currently internally displaced persons (IDPs) within the country. Most hit by the activities of the group are Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, where the administration of outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan imposed a state of emergency between 2012 and 2013.
Apart from playing host to many IDPs who are currently integrated into the state, Bauchi State is hosting displaced persons affected by Boko Haram insurgency. Some of these IDPs are from Gworza, Askira Uba, Michika, Chibok, among other towns and villages from Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. Some of the IDPs are currently in Alkaleri, Bauchi, Gamawa Local Government Areas of the state.
Speaking at a meeting with officials of Bauchi State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) on Monday shortly after visiting some of the internally displaced persons at Gwallaga and Sabon Kaura areas of Bauchi metropolis, the West Africa Regional Representative of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Liz Ahua, who was in Bauchi to see the IDPs as well as meet stakeholders, stated that over five million people were being traumatised in the North-East zone of the country due to the activities of insurgents.
She noted that UNHCR was so concerned over the traumatised state of both the IDPs and those who sought refuge in neighbouring countries.
According to her, over 3,000 Nigerian refugees were currently in Cameroon and were willing to return to Nigeria, saying that the fear of uncertainties was preventing them from returning to the country.
While fielding questions from journalists, Ahua informed that the United Nations Commission had been providing supports in different forms for the displaced persons, adding that the body was gearing up to do more, particularly in terms of shelter and psycho social supports.
“For the UNHCR, we have provided support in terms of capacity building of the government so that they can properly receive this population and assist them. We’ve also distributed what we called humanitarian assistance. We have also provided food for those people that are most vulnerable. This is the kind of support and we are gearing up to provide additional support in the area of shelter, in the area of psycho social support,” Ahua, who informed that the United Nations Commission, had been operating in Nigeria since 1963, said.
She, however, commended the smooth manner Bauchi SEMA had organised itself to support the displaced persons, expressing the delight of recommending the Bauchi experience to other states of the country with a view to helping the displaced persons go about their businesses despite their situation.
“My understanding is that even elsewhere, you have a lot of IDPs mostly among host communities. What is peculiar about Bauchi is the manner in which the SEMA has organised itself. Based on its previous experiences, they have been able to support the people in rather smooth manner.
“Certainly, we are happy to recommend to the other states to adopt a similar approach that will help the population to go about their businesses despite the challenges that they find themselves in,” the Dakar, Senegal-based UNHCR Regional Representative said.
Meanwhile, Pastor Joshua Unaliya, who is hosting over 100 IDPs, including women and children in his house at Sabon Kaura area of Bauchi in Bauchi Local Government of the state, has called on UNHCR and every other stakeholder to do more in terms of providing succour to the IDPs in order to make life easier for them in view of the challenges they faced.
He told journalists during Ahua’s visit to his house that the intervention of the world body, government at all levels in the country and kind-hearted individuals was imperative so that the displaced people could be properly rehabilitated as well as settled in their respective homes where they would be able to pick up the bits and pieces of their lives once again, having experienced insurgency first hand.
He, however, gave the IPDs hope of a brighter tomorrow despite their current situation, which they did not bargain for.
“We took time to preach to them that there is hope: That everything will come to an end one day and they will return to their homes,” he stated.