Internally Displaced Persons and Emergency Management in Nigeria

Abstract

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are men, women, and children who are uprooted from their ancestral homes as victims of natural disaster or manmade occurrences for reasons often beyond their control and comprehension. The Boko-Haram insurgency in the North-East of Nigeria has caused over two million Nigerians to be internally displaced. The crisis has created management problems for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) due to paucity of funds. Secondary data and human needs theory were used for the analysis. The incessant use of improvised electronic devices has created a security lacuna in the IDPs camps, which have become targets for terrorists. The concomitant is confidence deficit between the IDPs and NEMA resulting in accusations of neglect and corruption. The chapter concludes that the failure to manage IDPs is tantamount to human rights abuse and security lapse.