Internally Displaced Persons and the Challenges of Survival in Abua

What is it about?

While the government of Nigeria, in line with the Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (otherwise known as ‘Kampala Convention’, 2011), acknowledged the IDPs as one of the country’s most vulnerable people, it would appear that the adoption of the Kampala Convention by the Nigerian government remains in principle. Therefore, this study examines the claims of human rights abuses leveled against the Nigerian government and assesses the prospect of an effective, or defective as the case may be, of internal enforcement mechanism. The data for this study were collected through oral interviews with 168 IDPs in Abuja. The first part of the paper suggests that there exists wide gulf between government’s proclaimed policies and its actions towards IDPs in Nigeria, while the second part documents the range of survival strategies adopted by the IDPS. The third part explains the security implications of their neglect on the Nigeria's capital city. It also highlights the efforts of Nigerian human rights movement, and argues that these tactics have contributed to the improvement in the living conditions of the displaced people

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Why is it important?

Our findings show that, with the neglect of IDPs and its inherent security implications on the country, Nigeria may be sitting on a time-bomb if urgent attention is not paid to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the country. Overall, the paper discovers that human rights movement still remains the last defence for those who are left back and left behind in Africa, as they have the capacity to influence policy at the enforcement stage, even in particularly challenging areas such as the enforcement of human rights instruments like Kampala Convention.

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