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The warning by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) that internally displaced Nigerian children are among the world’s most vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic is worrisome. The alert came on the heels of a report, which reviewed the risks and challenges internally displaced kids face as well the need to protect them. In a release, the UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins, observed that the pandemic was making “a critical situation for displaced children and families around the world even worse as they often live in overcrowded camps or informal settlements, where access to basic hygiene and health services is limited, and where physical distancing is not possible.”
It stressed that in the insurgency-ravaged North-East geo-political zone, some 1.9 million people had been displaced from their homes, 60 per cent of them being children, with one in every four under the age of five. Given our poor statistical culture, the number may be more.
Before the disclosure by the UNICE, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had called on the Nigerian authorities to heed the concerns of internally displaced people (IDP) in the North-East. UNHCR’s demand came shortly after the February suicide bombing which killed more than 50 people and injured several others in attacks on a site holding about 50,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at Dikwa in Borno State.
Most of the displaced persons in the region are in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, with Borno estimated to have 83 per cent. The murderous activities of Boko Haram in the zone account for the displacement. At the height of the insurgency, many schools were closed, classrooms and equipment, destroyed. In Borno State alone, 16 out of 38 hospitals have been destroyed, and 214 primary health care centres shut. The destruction contributes significantly to the displacement of people as well as the humanitarian disaster in the region.
With the recent return of the Almajirai and other street kids to their states of origin, the figure will likely increase. Nigeria currently has about 13.5 million out-of-school children, with the Almajirai constituting not less than 72 per cent.
Considering the rising number of the internally displaced persons in the North-East region, we urge the government to step up the fight against the insurgents and map out measures to address the plight of the IDPs. Therefore, the UNICEF report is a wake-up call on the government to come up with comprehensive programme that will take care of children in the IDPs. Every effort should be made to ensure that the affected children go to school.
It is not good that the children in the various IDP Camps lack access to basic services and are at risk of exposure to violence, exploitation, abuse and trafficking. Government must take adequate care of the children by meeting their basic needs. The IDP and the vulnerable children constitute critical segments of the society that should not be ignored. And government must ensure that the COVID-19 pandemic does not spread to the IDPs. Health challenges that will arise from such and the consequences may be huge.
It is gratifying that the UNHCR and its partners have been providing protection, shelter, camp management training and assistance to some of the IDPs. About 137, 217 children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) have accessed treatment at UNICEF supported treatment centres in the zone, according to recent reports. Over one million of the children are also said to have benefitted from the integrated primary health care services in UNICEF-supported health facilities in IDP camps and host communities.
Beside the commendable efforts by the international agencies, Nigeria should come up with a more sustainable programmes to rehabilitate the internally displaced persons. We commend the Federal Government’s school feeding project and advise that the initiative be extended to other states not yet covered. The IDPs need social buffers and other welfare packages required to make them effective members of the society. They should be factored into the expanded national social register that the president ordered in his April 13 nationwide address.
