







































 Humanities and Social Science Research; Vol. 1, No. 1; 2018 

ISSN 2576-3024   E-ISSN 2576-3032 

https://doi.org/10.30560/hssr.v1n1p46 

 46 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

Forced Displacement and the Plight of Internally Displaced Persons in 

Northeast Nigeria 

 Nasa'i Muhammad Gwadabe1, Mohd Afandi Salleh1, Abdullahi Ayoade Ahmad1 & Sobia Jamil1 

1 Department of International Relations, Faculty of Law and International Relations, Universiti Sultan Zainal 

Abidin, Malaysia 

Correspondence: Nasa'i Muhammad Gwadabe, Department of International Relations, Faculty of Law and 

International Relations, Terengganu 21300, Malaysia. Tel: 60-1133-221-380, 234-8065-655-255. E-mail: 

ngwadabe@gmail.com 

 

Received: May 24, 2018; Accepted: June 17, 2018; Published: June 20, 2018 

 

Abstract 

Since the end of the Cold War, the phenomenon of forced displacement gained more global attention. Forced 

displacement involves the involuntary movement of people from their habitual place of residence to a location 

within their country of nationality; or across an internationally recognised border. This situation in most cases 

exposes the displaced people to some vulnerabilities. Among other classes of displaced people, the most notable 

groups of concern are refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). In contemporary time, conflict is identified 

to be the primary cause of forced displacement. Since 2009, the Boko Haram insurgency and the counter-

insurgency by the Nigerian security forces turned northeast Nigeria into a conflict zone. The crisis has forced more 

than 2 million people to flee for safety within Nigeria as internally displaced persons (IDPs); while many crossed 

the border into countries neighbouring Nigeria from the Lake Chad region as refugees. This paper explored and 

discussed the suffering of the people internally displaced by Boko Haram conflict from the framework of forced 

displacement. It is found that, the IDPs in Nigeria suffered from multifaceted problems, ranging from the issues 

of inadequate life-saving assistance, protection related crisis, and the unclear prospect of achieving durable 

solutions. Moreover, the lack of a clear national policy, institutional, and legal frameworks in addressing internal 

displacement in Nigeria is found to be the prime cause of the intensification of the plight of IDPs. Thus, it is 

recommended that, there should be a legally backed national policy on IDPs, which should include punitive 

measures for corrupt humanitarian officers. Also, provision should be made for effective coordination among 

national humanitarian agencies. Lastly, a clear rule of engagement between the Government and the international 

humanitarian agencies should be clearly defined.  

Keywords: Boko Haram, Forced Displacement, Internally Displaced Persons, Northeast Nigeria 

1. Introduction 

Nigeria is mainly divided along ethnoreligious lines. The northern part of the country is primarily dominated by 

Muslims who are mostly Hausa or Fulani tribes and some other minority tribes. While the Yoruba and Igbo tribes 

formed the bulk of the population in south Nigeria; and Christianity is the dominant belief system there. The North 

is identified to have the lowest human development index in the country. 71.5% of the northerners live below the 

international poverty line. The illiteracy rate is as high as 85%; while unemployment stood at 60%. North-east is 

considered the most backward (Onaedo, Samuel, & Sejoro, 2017).  

The socio-economic reality of the region has its root in the colonial era; amplified by corruption and bad 

governance.  The situation has created a conducive atmosphere for various anti-establishment movements that 

use religious narratives to gain legitimacy. There was the maitatsine riot in the 1980's in Kano state, the recurrent 

Shiite-Government clashes, and so many other preaching and sermons by individual scholars that refuted the 

western oriented and secular system of Nigeria. Boko Haram emerged from this discontentment and turned violent 

in 2009 (Oyewole, 2017).  

Boko Haram was founded by Muhammad Yusuf in Maiduguri of Borno state. The group is officially known as 

Jama'atu Ahlus Sunnah liddawa'ati wal Jihad. Boko Haram came to limelight in 2009 when it came into violent 

confrontation with the Nigerian authorities. Following the execution of Yusuf, one of his lieutenant known as 

Abubakar Shekau took charge of the group and radicalised and sophisticated it further (Agbiboa, 2014).  



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Boko Haramism as an ideology is linked directly to the global web of radical Islamists' thinking and discourse. 

The tenets of Boko Haramism are derived from the mainstream radical Islamist ideological narratives, to which 

Yusuf is inclined. Boko Haram ideology was based on the principles of rejecting Western education, condemnation 

of secularism and westernisation,  and the incompatibility of Islam with democracy (Raineri & Martini, 2017).  

At the international level, Boko Haram has interacted with some groups outside Nigeria. It is evident in the 

interaction of Boko Haram with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Movement for Unity and Jihad in 

West Africa (MUJAO), and Ansar Dine. Mohammed Yusuf considered the founder of al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden 

a role model worthy of emulation.  In 2105, the leader of Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau pledged allegiance to 

the Islamic State (IS). 

As a strategy, Boko Haram prefers always to be on the offensive than defensive. Hence, the Group to use attacks 

tactics such as ambushes, raids, and assaults against poorly defended targets. Usually, victims of  Boko Haram 

attacks include law enforcement agents, religious and political figures, essential infrastructures, and financial 

institutions and other business establishments. The strategic objectives of these attacks are to cast distrust of the 

Government in the minds of the people by making them feel vulnerable and unprotected by the Government 

(Regens, Mould, Vernon, & Montgomery, 2016).  

1.1 Internal Displacement 

One of the resultant effects of the Boko Haram conflict is the massive internal displacement of the population 

within Nigeria. Internal displacement is a situation where persons or group of persons are forcibly uprooted from 

their homes to other locations within their country as a result of man-induced or natural causes. According to the 

Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), from 2009 when Boko Haram turned violent, to 2016, almost 

two and half million people were forced to flee and became internally displaced. Some are in the camps while 

many others are dispersed across various host communities. An accelerated increase in the number of IDPs was 

recorded, from about five thousand IDPs in 2009 to approximately 2 and a half million in 2016 (“IDMC » Nigeria 

IDP Figures Analysis,” 2017). This situation has created the worse humanitarian crisis in the history of Nigeria 

since the Civil War (1967-1970) (Heerten & Moses, 2017; UNCHR, 2016a)  

The IDPs are dispersed across the six states of north-east Nigeria and beyond, with their concentration in Borno 

state followed by Yobe and Adamawa states and other proximate states in the region such as Taraba, Gombe and 

Bauchi. All of these states where the IDPs seek shelter, protection and other assistance are also affected by the 

Boko Haram conflict which led to competition over the inadequate resources between the displaced the host 

communities (Eweka & Olusegun, 2016). 

1.2 Causes of Internal Displacement  

In "Internal Displacement: Responsibility and Action", Asplet (2013) identified the major factors that lead to 

displacement:  

1.2.1 Armed Conflict 

Armed conflict is a situation in which differences between 2 or more states or non-state actors lead to the 

intervention of armed forces. In most cases due to fear of attacks and as a result of a breakdown of the socio-

economic structures during armed conflict, people are usually left with no option than to flee.  

1.2.2 Generalised Violence 

It is a situation of an indiscriminate spread of violence. Here, there is no specific target. The attack could be 

perpetrated by or against non-recognised parties to the conflict.  This form of unrest usually leaves the population 

unprotected and vulnerable. Mostly in this situation, fleeing for safety is the only alternative.  

1.2.3 Natural and Man-Made Disasters 

When a disaster happens as a result of natural causes or due to the activities of man, it is called natural or human-

made disaster respectively. Examples of natural disasters are drought, earthquake, tsunamis, and so on; while on 

the other hands, for instance, human-made disasters could include phenomena related to climate change and so on. 

It usually causes massive movement of the population.  

1.2.4 Human Rights Violations 

Human rights violations happen when the state or non-state actors infringe on the fundamental rights of some 

targeted people. The targeting could be on account of race, religion, political reasons, economic rights etc. the 

victims of human rights violation usually flee in search of protection and respite.  

 



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1.2.5 Development Projects or Environmental Protection  

Development Projects or Environmental Protection occurs when people are compelled to leave their homes as a 

result of mega development projects. It happens mostly as a result of the construction of dams, roads, railways, 

hydroelectric power projects etc. Or for conservation reasons and forestry. These types of projects or policies 

usually require the vacation of the local population which in most cases exposes the affected people to some 

vulnerabilities.  

1.3 The Stages of Internal Displacement 

The International Committee of the Red Cross categorised displacement into 4 Major stages: Pre-displacement, 

Acute displacement, Stable displacement, Durable solutions (International Committee of the Red Cross, 2018).  

1.3.1 Pre-Displacement 

This stage has to do with circumstances that result in displacements such as armed conflict, generalised violence 

or any other causes that uproot people from their habitual place of residence. 

1.3.2 Acute Displacement 

This stage involves the movement of the displaced persons to a new location other than their original communities. 

At this phase of displacement, the IDPs usually find themselves in dire need of life-saving assistance and protection.  

1.3.3 Stable Displacement 

This phase of displacement is sometimes referred to as "protracted displacement". Here, the displacement last 

beyond the reasonable frame of time. IDPs stay for a prolonged period with the host communities, private houses 

or provided camps.  

1.3.4 Durable Solutions 

This stage is usually considered the last one. Displacement is said to end when durable solutions are achieved for 

the IDPs. It could be actualised by returning the displaced people to their original homes, or integrating them 

within the community they found themselves, or to resettle them in other locations in the country other than their 

original places.   

2. Problem Statement  

Since the escalation of the Boko Haram insurgency into a deadly conflict in 2009, the phenomenon has forced 

almost 2 and half million people to flee. As a result Nigeria became the country with the highest number of 

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in sub-Saharan Africa (Norwegian Refugee Council, 2017). The Displacement 

Tracking Matrix (2017) revealed that women and children formed 79% of the IDPs population, and children of 

under 5 years account for 28%.  In the same vein, the  United Nations Office for the Coordination of 

Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), further revealed that the IDPs in north-east Nigeria are in desperate need of 

life-saving assistance such as food and nutrition, healthcare, shelter and non-food items, potable water and 

improved sanitation and hygiene condition. Also, the education of the IDPs has been reluctantly handled. Again, 

the IDPs suffer from some protection issues such as Child and Gender-based Violence (CGBV) among others. The 

prospect of IDPs to return to their original communities is another worrisome issue adding to the plight of these 

displaced people (UNOCHA, 2018).  

However, despite this humanitarian crisis and the suffering of the victims, there is no clear institutional and policy 

frameworks or legislation that directly and squarely address the plight of the IDPs. Although, the Cluster 

framework of humanitarian response exist at the international level, but this absence of structures at the national 

level has retarded the philanthropic efforts of the international actors including the United Nations agencies.  

The objective of this paper is to explore and discuss the suffering of the people internally displaced by Boko Haram 

conflict from the framework of forced displacement; and make policy recommendation that could subdue the 

situation.  

3. Conceptual Framework  

Forced displacement has been described as "the movements of refugees and internally displaced people (people 

displaced by conflicts) as well as people displaced by natural or environmental disasters, chemical or nuclear 

disasters, famine, or development projects" (Migration Data Portal, 2018). The cumulative number of people 

displaced by the end of the year 2016 globally stood at 65.6 million. Out of this number, 22.5 million are refugees, 

while 40.3 million are IDPs (UNCHR, 2016b).  



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The American Sociologist Eugene Kulischer is credited to have coined the term "Displaced Person." Though, in 

his work he used the term to refer all classes of people forced to flee - refugees, IDPs, and others; but the 

contemporary usage of the term is restricted to people that are forcibly displaced from their communities but 

remain in other locations in their country of nationality (Kumar Panigrahi, 2018).  

Forced displacement, whether internal or external is mostly caused by Conflict. Conflicts occur in every region of 

the globe, and it has been so throughout the history of humankind. Its duration, intensity, dimension differs 

according to type, cause, and the parties involved. A conflict could happen at the different level of social process 

and interaction. It could be between individuals, within or between groups, it can also occur within a state or 

between states and non-state actors. Modern history affirmed that conflict is an integral part of the domestic 

phenomenon of the modern states. It could manifest in the form of civil wars, insurgencies, inter-ethnic or inter-

religious clashes. It also happens on the international stage between states or non-state actors.  

The phenomenon of forced displacement caused by Boko Haram conflict in northeast revolves around three major 

components. First, the issue of life-saving assistance; which involves the provision of life-saving and immediate 

humanitarian needs to the displaced people such as food and nutrition; healthcare; water, sanitation and hygiene 

(WASH); shelter, and education. The second component is protection. It includes safeguarding IDPs from all 

forms of human right abuses that could emanate from their vulnerability. Such abuses come in the form of child 

and gender-based violence (CGBV), trafficking and family separation. Third, is the component of durable 

solutions. It deals with the long-term remedy of displacement. This component is made up of sub-components of 

return, resettlement, and local integration. A forcibly displaced person is ceased to considered displaced when 

he/she achieves durable solutions.  

4. The Plight of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Northeast Nigeria 

The Boko Haram conflict caused a considerate loss of lives and breakdown of the family structure, destruction of 

properties and infrastructures, in addition to the absence of the means of livelihood.  This situation of fear and 

insecurity left people with no choice but to migrate (Norwegian Refugee Council, 2017). The deteriorated nature 

of internal displacement and the suffering of the victims can be analysed from four significant angles. First, on the 

need for life-saving assistance by the IDPs, the need for protecting them from human rights violations and abuses, 

the uncertainty of achieving durable solutions; and lastly the absence of a specific national blueprint in addressing 

the issue.   

4.1 The Life-Saving Assistance 

First, The IDPs are facing severe food insecurity and nutrition problems with global acute malnutrition (GAM) 

level of 27.3%. Again, 12, 871 children below five years of age were identified to suffer from severe acute 

malnutrition. In 2013, the Nigerian government made official declaration of emergency on nutrition (Dunn, 2018; 

UN News, 2016). 

Second, in the health sector, most of the medical infrastructural facilities have been closed due to the absence of 

doctors who fled for security reasons, scarcity of drugs and medical equipment (Sambo, 2017). Reports showed 

that endemic malaria, acute respiratory infections and watery diarrhoea are critical health concern bedevilling the 

IDPs; with malaria featuring in 50% of all the health-related cases in the camps (WHO, 2018). Furthermore, 

compounding to the health crisis is the problem of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). As a result of the 

trooping of IDPs in camps, the available water and sanitation facilities and structures became inadequate to cater 

for the basic needs of the IDPs. This lack of WASH increases the risk of the spread of diseases, dehydration and 

other related ailments (UNICEF, 2016). There is an absence of waste management and inadequate provision of 

essential utility such as potable water and electric power. This state of poor sanitation and hygiene explained the 

frequency of the outbreak of diseases such as cholera and related ailments. The IDPs that live outside the camps 

mostly stayed with host communities or in worship sites such as churches, mosques, and in dilapidated and 

abandoned buildings that are not humanly habitable (Sambo, 2017).   

According to the National Emergency Management Agency, there exist an alarming number of children among 

the IDPs whom education was truncated by their displacement and a number of them are unaccompanied due to 

the death of their parents or separation during the conflict. The breakdown of the system of education in northeast 

Nigeria was accelerated by the destruction of schools, killing and kidnapping of students and teachers by the 

insurgents. Besides,  the usage of school buildings by the displaced population as shelter further affects IDPs 

education. Moreover, in some camps and communities where the displaced children are accessing education, the 

quality is poor and far below the standard due to the absence of a conducive environment for teaching and learning 

and the absence of teaching materials. In most cases, the teaching is done by incompetent volunteer teachers 

(Abdulazeez, 2016).   



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4.2 The Issue of Protection  

Again, the unsafe condition of the IDPs in northeast exposed them to many protection issues; ranging from 

exploitations, child and gender-based violence, human trafficking, family separation and detention with no 

consideration of the rule of law . Moreover, the IDPs are sheltered under the most inhumane condition: 

overcrowded camps; with few overstretched infrastructural facilities and defective or inadequate non-food items 

(NFI), such as blankets, buckets, mosquito nets etc. (Obaji & Alobo, 2016). 

4.3 The Issue of Durable Solutions 

Another issue of concern is that the security forces are gaining ground against the Boko Haram insurgents; but 

still, the IDPs expressed fear to return to their ravaged communities, as there is no assurance for safety, no clear 

and sustainable strategy for durable solutions in place for them. On the other hand, other affected populations by 

the conflict that took refuge in neighbouring countries are voluntarily or forcibly returning to Nigeria. These 

returnees are likely to out-weight the already inadequate resources and widen the need gaps.  As a result, it may 

add to the suffering of the existing IDPs and returning refugees who are now IDPs (Norwegian Refugee Council, 

2017). 

4.4 The Absence of National Humanitarian Response Frameworks 

Despite this humanitarian situation in Nigeria, there is non-existence of legislation, definite and sustainable 

institutional and policy frameworks in addressing internal displacement. It has impeded national and international 

humanitarian efforts. It has made planning, implementation, coordination and evaluation of humanitarian efforts 

difficult. It has also affected the assigning of roles and responsibilities to humanitarian actors, which led to the 

clash of interests among humanitarian actors, and duplication of duties in some sectors, while others sectors are 

handled negligibly or inefficiently. Even the draft and yet to be implemented National Policy on internally 

displaced persons in Nigeria has been discredited for not having any legal status, but a mere outline of policy 

objectives that are not enforceable (Akuto, 2017; Itumo & Nwefuru, 2016).  

5. Recommendation  

The Government of Nigeria and humanitarian partners have channeled a considerable amount of resources both 

human and material in ameliorating internal displacement in northeast Nigeria. However, no commensurate result 

came out of the effort. Fortunately, the causative factors have been identified by various research conducted 

academics and professionals in the field. Critical among them is the absence of clear policy, institutional and legal 

humanitarian frameworks. Therefore, in this paper, it is recommended that:  

There should be national policy backed up by legislation that would cater for the prevention, management and to 

address long-term issues associated with the displacement such as return, resettlement and the integration of IDPs.  

Furthermore, the legislation should include punitive measures for corrupt camp and military officials that syphon 

relief materials and other resources for personal gain at the expense of the victims or take advantage of their 

vulnerability to abuse them. Mostly, female and children fall victims in this case.  

Again, the framework should include definite and clear rules of engagement by the Government to the international 

humanitarian organisation. Also, there should be institutional centralisation of the national humanitarian agencies 

to avoid the clash of the interest and duplication of work by various humanitarian agencies of the Government.  

6. Conclusion  

All in all, Boko Haram insurgency and the counter-insurgency by the Nigerian security forces have uprooted 

almost 2 and half million people from their homes. As a result, Nigeria has the highest number of IDPs in sub-

Saharan Africa. The IDPs mainly suffered from three significant angles. First, they lack the most basic lifesaving 

assistance, second, they are not adequately protected from abuses and deprivation, more especially the Child, and 

Gender-Based Violence. Third, is the absence of a definite prospect to achieve durable solutions for the IDPs. All 

these plights of the IDPs in north-east Nigeria are correlatively related to the lack specific policy, institutional and 

legal frameworks in addressing the problem. The Government mainly concentrated on ad-hoc efforts in responding 

to the phenomenon. This momentary approach has made planning, coordination, evaluation and accountability 

difficult.  

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