Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are persons who have been displaced by natural disaster or conflicts from their homes, and with Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria and activities of other terrorism-adjacent groups that have prolonged for years, women and children are usually the demographic adversely impacted.
Conflicts arising from militant attacks have led to countless deaths and loss of livelihoods. According to a 2019 report by the UN Refugee Agency, there are over 2 million displaced people from the Northeast region of the country, who have had to flee conflict zones for safety and find themselves taken in by IDP camps. IDPs are not exactly a haven as they have been report cases of women and girls subjected to sexual abuse and molestation.
In addition, the living conditions of these spots are poor, with inadequate healthcare, food, basic needs. A report by Cable News Nigeria published last December details five women who have fled Boko Haram conflicts to IDP camps and navigated their way back into seemingly stable livelihoods. There’s Liyatu Ayuba from Borno whose husband, a policeman, died during a militant attack in the state. She fled to the Durumi settlement in Abuja with her nine children and found community there. Liyatu didn’t have a job, depending on her husband when he was alive.
Fortunately, she got an opportunity with an NGO where she learnt some vocational skills, and begun selling water in sachets. Liyatu’s experience is similar to other women mentioned in the report, who have found their foot. As much as this is warm and pleasant, insurgency has taken roots in the North and its manifestations are unending, severely impacting vulnerable populations like women and children. Ending terrorism will automatically they can thrive in peace, and without interruptions.
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