




































American International Journal of Social Science Research; Vol. 3, No. 1; 2018 

ISSN 2576-103X   E-ISSN 2576-1048 

Impact Factor: 4.6 

Published by Centre for Research on Islamic Banking & Finance and Business, USA 

   

 

34 

 

Internally Displacement and Cognitive Reasoning in Children of 

North Central, Nigeria 
 

 

Philemon Atume Agashua
1
 , Awopetu Ronke Grace

2
 & Jonathan Iornenge Ugese

1 

 
1
Department of Psychology, Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna 

2
Department of Psychology, Benue State University, Makurdi 

 

Correspondence: Air Cdre Philemon Atume Agashua (rtd) Ph.D, Department of Psychology, Nigerian Defence 

Academy, Kaduna 

 

To cite this article: Agashua, P. A., Grace, A. R., & Ugese, J. I. (2018). Internally Displacement and Cognitive 

Reasoning in Children of North Central, Nigeria. American International Journal of Social Science Research, 

3(1), 34-38. Retrieved from http://www.cribfb.com/journal/index.php/aijssr/article/view/198 

 

 

Received: October 10, 2018        Accepted: October 25, 2018        Online Published: November 9, 2018 

                                          

 

Abstract 

The cognitive progression of displaced children has suffered major setback in Nigeria in recent time as a result 

of boko haram insurgency, Fulani herdsmen militia and communal clashes. Therefore, this study examines the 

cognitive reasoning of the children of primary and secondary school ages that are currently seeking refuge at 

internally displaced camps in North-Central, Nigeria. 1,222 internally displaced children were assessed using 

visual, numerical and verbal reasoning analysis tests respectively, developed by Barrett (2004). Of the total 

number of participants, 29.8% responded correctly to numerical reasoning tests, 15.6% answered correctly the 

verbal reasoning tests and 31.7% responded to visual analysis tests. The result showed that majority of the 

children could not respond correctly to reasoning and analysis tests.  The study concludes that children are worst 

vulnerable to current ongoing displacement in the country and this has resulted into downfall in the educational 

system and cognitive improvement of the children. It is therefore recommended that quick response to IDP 

children in the area of education should not be ignored or neglected in case of displacement of any type by 

government, philanthropists and non-governmental organizations. 

 

Keywords: Cognitive Assessment, Educational Development, Internally Displaced Children, North Central  

 

1. Introduction 

Internally displaced children, are the category of children that do not cross international borders recognized by a 

State but are displaced within the borders of their own nation. They represent 2/3 of the total number of 

displaced children. Many at times, displaced children find themselves separated from their close relations during 

such an event. Deprived of the basic care and protection of their family, they become very vulnerable to society 

exploitation and abuse. Moreover, they are generally weakened by the long distances that they are forced to 

travel and by the difficulties they have to thus endure. Hence, they become easy targets for smugglers, 

traffickers, and/or armed groups. Furthermore, such displaced children can also become victims of all forms of 

discrimination and many of their fundamental rights may be violated due to their displacement. For example, 

rights may be violated if such displaced children travel to a place where they are a minority ethnic group; and 

more importantly, their education is completely either abandoned or neglected. 

According to the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) and International Organization Migration (IOM) Round 

V Report (2015), the total number of IDP children (3-17 years of age) in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states is 

452,620. Of these 387,287 (85.6%) live in host communities while 65,333 (14.4%) live in IDP camps. The 

education development of these children is negatively affected on daily basis and schooling has continuously 

been interrupted by the boko haram insurgency, fulani herdsmen militia, and communal violence for the past 

few years in north central Nigeria. School children were killed, abducted, displaced leading to a high level of 

trauma. Many of the school facilities were destroyed and have been burnt down. Large numbers of the 

population in the affected states and local governments have been displaced leading to thousands of children 

being out of school. This has adversely affected the gains in education achieved prior to the insurgency and acts 



 
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of terrorism.  In the north east, Nigeria, reports show that with large numbers of children out of school, 

especially Adamawa, Borno and Yobe; and North central , Benue, Nassarawa, and Plateau and  Nigeria as 

country would likely suffer  educationally, socially, economically and even politically unless meaningful 

interventions are devised to circumvent the situation.  

Ugwumba and Udom (2015), observed that over 1000 school children have been killed or wounded, leaving 

about 50 schools either burned down or destroyed completely, while almost 60 were forced to close down 

totally. Furthermore, as of November 2014, 426 schools have been affected by the insurgency, including 73 in 

Adamawa, 297 in Borno and 56 in Yobe. At least 115 have been completely destroyed while 311 schools have 

been partially destroyed with the majority being in Borno State. More than 340,000 students have been affected 

by the insurgency with death among 314 (Adamawa-33, Yobe-263, Borno-18). 196 teachers killed from three 

states (Adamawa- 14, Yobe 4, Born -178) with more insurgent attacks in December and since the beginning of 

the new year, these numbers might have changed drastically. In Borno state, almost all schools had been closed 

in 2014 due to attacks. About 200 schools in only 4 LGAs were able to reopen in January 2015. In Adamawa 

and Yobe most schools had reopened within the metropolis LGAs. With stability returning in most LGAS of all 

states there is a chance for more schools to reopen. 

The continued attacks and counter attacks on these children and their parents and multiple exposure to violence 

and crisis could disturb their cognitive and behavioural competencies including attention, concentration and 

memory as basis for academic learning and achievement. Children cognitive and behavioural competences 

become occupied with their sufferings and are devoted to struggling against surviving the pains rather than 

growth and mastery of developmental tasks.  

Despite all the numerous efforts made by the government of Nigeria towards educational development, the 

educational sector is besieged by infrastructural decay, dilapidation of structures and production/graduation of 

illiterate graduate. The monumental increase in the level of illiteracy has made the socio-economic landscape 

frail and fragile. Today, Nigeria is ranked among the countries with the highest population of illiteracy in the 

whole world. The failure to efficiently combat the problem has largely been blamed on infrastructural decay, 

endemic corruption and poor governance. 

2. Statement of the problem 

Displacement inevitably takes its ugly toll on children’s education. Governmental and non-governmental 

organizations, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund  (UNICEF), United Nations 

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and mental health professionals have argued 

strongly that educational services is essential for children’s psychosocial wellbeing during the periods of 

displacement by insurgencies, conflicts and other natural disasters (Boyden, Berry, Feeny & Hart, 2002). Many 

of the areas that are affected by Fulani militia, boko haram and communal clashes in North central have not yet 

established formal schooling services, also at the IDP camps children of school ages are seen roaming about the 

camps without any form of temporal educational interventions by government agency and non-governmental 

organizations to rescue their predicament. It was noted that 28,000 of the children are in transitional class before 

displacement, which is, preparing for promotion from nursery to primary class to secondary and some from 

junior secondary to senior secondary class (BSEMA, 2018). This situation has had a serious adverse effect on 

their educational progression. Most obviously, there is a problem of disruption and loss of access to schools, and 

idleness among the children, they run the risk of not being able to return to school or completing their education 

as and when due. In some cases of long term displacement which were found in one of the states of the study 

dated back to 2012, children have ever know camp life with all its constraints and difficulties.    

3. Aim and objectives of the study  

The study aimed to assess the cognitive reasoning of IDP children seeking refuge at various IDP camps in the 

north central Nigeria. The specific objectives include assessment of their performance on numerical, verbal and 

visual reasoning tests. 

4. Methods 

4.1 Study Design 

 A cross sectional ex-post factor design was adopted in which variables such as age, educational level and sex 

had in fact been manipulated before the study. 

4.2 Sample   

The sample for this study was drawn from three IDP camps from Nasarawa, and Benue states of north central 

region of Nigeria. With the use of purposive sampling method, 1,222 children comprising 355(29.1%) males, 

324(26.5 %) female and 543(44.4%) who could not indicate their sex completed questionnaires in the study. 

Their age ranged from 6 to 20 years (M= 1.27, SD=0.45). Other demographic profile of the respondents showed 

that 315(25.8%) were in primary class; 217(17.8) were in secondary class; and 690 (56.5%) were neither 

primary nor secondary school because of no indication. 

 

 

 



 
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4.3 Instrument 

A questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection in the study. The questionnaire comprises two 

sections as follows: demographic background information of the respondents and other reliable tests measuring 

variables of interest in the study. Order of the sections in the questionnaire is as follows: 

Section A consists of demographic such as age, sex, primary class and secondary class. 

Section B is a set of numerical, verbal and visual reasoning tests developed by Barret (2004) to assess natural 

intelligence, progress in education and reason skills in a child. It comprises three subsections: Numerical 

reasoning test (b1) Verbal reasoning test (b2), and Visual reasoning test (b3). Subsection b1 is a 4-item 

questions in which a respondent is required to identify the missing number at the end of the series. Examples of 

items in this subsection include “3, 11, 19, 27,?” “516, 497, 478, 459,?” etc. five options are provided out of 

which one is the correct answer. Subsection b2 is an 8-item set of tests in which respondent is enquired to draw 

a logical conclusions from the information that has been given. Examples of items in this subsection include 

“Joan and Mary enjoy playing hockey. Karen and Joan enjoy netball. Karen and Mary enjoy swimming. Which 

girl enjoys both swimming and hockey? “Only one word in the brackets means EITHER the same or the 

opposite of the word in CAPITALS from set of words below, identify this word?”  Subsection b3 is a 4-item of 

two different types. Type one, respondent has to decide which of the objects displayed the “odd one out” is. This 

will be the one that in some way makes it different from the others. The other type is shown a sequence of 

objects or shapes in which a respondent is to choose from alternatives given the one that would come next in the 

line where there is a large question mark.  For every correct answer carries 1 mark while every wrong answer is 

0 mark. The sum total score of correct answers determine the educational potential of the respondents. A total 

score of 1-3 indicate below average, 4-8 average, 9-12 well above average and 13-16 exceptional. The 

researchers obtained .70, .83 and .65 for numeric, verbal and visual reasoning tests respectively. Also, for non 

IDP children (normal population), a minimum score of 4 and maximum of 15 was obtained; and a mean scores 

of 2.33, 2.31 and 2.35 were obtained for numerical, verbal and visual reasoning respectively.   

4.4 Data collection procedure    

Data were collected at three IDP camps located within Nasarawa and Benue states. For ethical reason, the 

researchers approached the coordinators of the camps to seek permission for the conduct of exercise and this 

was granted having explained the purposes of the research to them. The camp coordinators led the researchers 

and assistants to various halts where the children were staying in order to meet with their parents for debriefing 

and administration of the questionnaires. The children were grouped into primary class and secondary class as 

indicated. The method adopted for the administration was to ask the children to indicate their willingness to 

participate by signifying with a raise of hands. The children were properly orientated on how to respond to items 

on the questionnaire before distribution. A copy was given to each to complete. Completion of a copy of the 

questionnaire took about 30 minutes. In all, a total number of 1,500 were distributed across the three camps but 

1,325 were retrieved. However, only 1,222 properly completed were used for this study.  

4.5 Statistical Analysis 

Statistical analysis were performed with IBM SPSS 21 version. As regards the demographic variables; age was 

measured in ratio as reported by the respondent; sex was measured as male (1) and female (2); primary and 

secondary class were also measured on nominal scale of 1-6 based on current class of study. Numerical, verbal 

and visual reasoning were measured on discrete variables. Descriptive statistics such as means, standard 

deviation and percentages were used to analyse the demographic characteristics and their performance on the 

reasoning tests of the participants.  

5. Results 

Bivariate correlation analyses on interrelationship among the study variables were performed with a view to 

understanding the association among the study variables as presented in table 1. Results show that age does not 

relate with the sex of the respondents (r = -.03; p>.05), secondary class (r =.10; p>05), numerical (r = -.02; 

p>.05), verbal (r = -.03; p>.05), visual (r= -.01; p>.05) but positively and significantly related with primary class 

of the respondents (r= .14; p<.01). Sex is positively and significantly related with primary and secondary 

classes(r = .56; p<.01) and (r= .21; p<.01) respectively, but not related to numerical, verbal, and visual reasons. 

Primary class does not relate with secondary class (r = -.11, p>.05), numerical (r = .01, p>.05), verbal (r = -.04; 

p>.05), and visual (r= -.08, p>05). Secondary class does not relate with numerical (r = .03, p>.05), verbal (r= -

.05; p >.05) and verbal (r= -.07; p>.05). Numerical reasoning is positively related with verbal (r= .06; p <.01) 

and visual (r= .38; p <.01). Verbal reasoning is positively related to visual reasoning (r= .11; p< .01). The result 

further reveals that the mean scores of the respondents on the reasoning tests (numerical, verbal and visual) are 

far below (0.48, 0.25, and 0.64) the norm for normal population.      



 
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Table 1. Mean, standard deviation and correlational matrix between variables in the study (N=1,222)  

 

 

Variable                                      1                  2                 3               4                    5                 6                    7 

Age                                              -                 

Sex                                            -.03                 - 

Primary class                             .14
*                      

.56
**       

       - 

Secondary class                         .10                .21
**

          -.11            -                 

Numerical                                 -.02                .02             .01            .03                  - 

Verbal                                       -.03                .07            -.04           -.05                 .06
*  

          - 

Visual                                        -.01               -.02           -.08           -.07                 .38
**

           .11
**

              - 

M                                               1.27              1.48           1.93           2.28                0.48           0.25            0.64 

SD                                              0.45              0.50          1.00            0.67                0.60            0.49           0.64 

 

**p<0.01; *p<0.05  

 

Table 2. Mean, standard deviation and performance of IDP children on Numerical reasoning test   

 

Variable (Numerical)    N                 M               SD          Min               Max          %                                          

Item      b1-1                   860              2.02            0.55        1                     5            70.4 

              b1-2                   877             1.95            0.48        1                     5             71.8 

              b1 -3                  859             2.04            0. 36       1                     5             70.3 

              b1-4                   860              3.18            0.59       1                     5             70.4 

  

 

Table 3.  Mean, standard deviation and performance of IDP children on Verbal reasoning test   

 

Variable (Verbal)    N                 M                SD             Min        Max                   %                                          

Item      b2-1           684                1.36            0.67               1            3                      56 

             b2-2             27                1.30            0.47               1            2                     2.2 

             b2-3             27                1.67            0. 48              1            2                      2.2 

             b2-4             29                1.79            0.73               1            3                      2.4 

             b2-5             955              1.97            0.43               1            3                     18.2 

             b2-6             943              2.54            0.67               1            5                     77.2 

             b2-7             938              1.30            0.54               1            4                     76.8 

             b2-8             946              3.66            0.84               1            5                     77.4 

 

Table 4.  Mean, standard deviation and performance of IDP children on Visual reasoning test   

 

Variable (Visual)       N                        M            SD          Min              Max               %                                          

Item      b3-1               885                    3.60            0.92       1                   4                   72.4 

              b3-2               960                    2.31           0.77        1                   5                  78.6 

              b3 -3              955                    1.77           0.93        1                   4                  78.2 

              b3-4               953                    1.30           0.49        1                   4                   77.9 

  

6. Discussion  

The goal of this study was to examine the educational development of the IDP children by assessing their 

performance on numerical, verbal and visual reasoning test. The results indicated that age has no relationship 

with the reasoning tests. This means that regardless of the age of these children especially the school-age 

category, it I expected that their performance should be within or above average but this was contrary. This 

could be as a result of inability of the children ton access regular school attendance. Available information 

revealed that the attacks on them has been on increase in the last five years making it difficult to have regular 

school attendance. As a result of this, many children have lost focus and concentration, more importantly those 

children who have lost parents, caregivers and have become orphans. Considering their performance in all the 

tests in table 2, 3, and 4, it is observed that majority of the children had a minimum of 1 maximum core of 5 

which is below the non IDP children (normal population), with a minimum score of 4 and maximum of 15 was 

obtained; and a mean scores of 2.33, 2.31 and 2.35 for numerical, verbal and visual reasoning respectively. 

Many factors could responsible for this poor performance. One of the reasons could be that the IDP school 

children are not often guided and directed by the parents due to security threat. This corroborated a study by 



 
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Oladunjoye and Omena (2013) that IDP children displaced from rural villages and  schools are often neglected 

and they live in perpetual fear of attacks which could lowering their cognitive abilities to perform well in 

educational activities.  

The performance of the IDP children in these test could also be linked to economic hardship faced at the IDP 

camp. As a result of the displacement, many families are faced with economic hardship which predispose the 

children to high magnitude of malnutrition and significant decrease in cognitive abilities. Many live at poverty 

level or below and such a level of poverty contribute significantly to educational performances and other social 

problems including poor health and nutrition, exploitative child labour, and violation of the children’s 

fundamental rights.  

7. Recommendations 

Government should rise up to the challenge of education of the vulnerable IDP children. They should be the 

prime actor in responding quickly to the educational needs of these children and make resources available and 

provide a conducive learning environment for the affected children. It is important for government and other 

relevant organizations and agencies to advance in making commitments to addressing the pertinent needs of 

improving the quality of life the displaced children and increase the their cognitive development as they grow 

physically and ment6ally.   

8. Limitations 

One of the major limitations of this study is that the status of the parents, caregivers and foster parents were not 

sought which could be a factor to the educational predicaments of the idp children. Information on IDP children 

was difficult to obtain because due to the characteristics of the group, people preferred to remain invisible at 

least until they felt they were not threatened.   

References 

Benue State Emergency Management Agency (BSEMA) 2018 Report.  

Boyden, J., Berry, J., Feeny, T., & Hart, J. (2002). Children affected by armed conflict in south Asia. A review 

of trends and issues identified through secondary research.  

IOM/DTM, (2015). Displacement highlights. https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/48599 

Lawal, A.I. Obasaju, B. Rotimi E.M. (2012). Towards Achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 

Nigeria: Prospect and Challenges, Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, Vol. 3, No. 9.  

Oladunjoye, P. & Omemu F.  (2013). Effect of Boko Haram on school attendance in Northern Nigeria. British 

Journal of Education Vol.1, No 2. Pp.1-9. www.ea-journals.org 

Ugwumba, E. U. & Odom, T. C (2015). Boko haram insurgency: a peril to achievement of education for all in 

nigeria. International Journal of Education Learning and Development Vol.3, No.1, pp.1-11, 

www.eajournals.org 

 

 

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