Refugee Education: The State of Nigeria's Preparedness

Gbolabo J. Oni,Oluwayemisi A. Obashoro-John

doi:10.13189/ujer.2017.050611

Abstract

The spate of insurgences and conflicts in the country and around the sub-region has led to the increased presence of refugees and Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Nigeria. This has resultant challenges on the basic needs of refugees and IDPs at different levels. One of the highest priorities of refugees and IDPs communities is education. Nigeria is obviously struggling to provide basic education for her citizens hence the emergence of refugees and IDPs and their need for education put a double burden on the nation's education system. Sections of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Fundamental Human Rights; 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, and 1990 Declaration of World Conference on Education for All call for no discrimination in the education of men, women and children irrespective of status; compulsory and free education for all and the right to education in emergencies. These are supposed to be the policies and implementation guidelines for ratifying countries. Observations show that, in spite of the challenging situation, there is little evidence of the commitment by the Nigerian government through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to the education of refugees and IDPs. In cases where some levels of provisions are available, the quantity and quality of such provisions needs improvements. Since there is no guarantee that refugees problems will end soon, this paper examines the available provisions and institutional approaches for the education of refugees and IDPs in Nigeria; analyses the level of Nigeria's preparedness for providing education for refugees and IDPs persons; and makes propositions for meeting this peculiar global reality.

Highlights

Political instability, resulting from inter-state and intra-state conflicts, characterizes much of Africa
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR, 2014) and African Renewal (2016) statistics states that there are 38.2million people displaced worldwide with Africa’s share being about 12 million and Nigeria having about 3.3million
The activities of ISIS in Iraq and Syria; Al Shabah in Somalia and Boko-Haram in Nigeria and the West African sub-region have created a flood of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the regions mentioned

Summary

Introduction

Political instability, resulting from inter-state and intra-state conflicts, characterizes much of Africa. These in recent times have attained alarming proportions resulting in recognizable devastating effects on the national, economic, social and political life of both the host countries and the refugees. Some of these problems are usually geographical or limited to groups but varies from one country to another Factors such as ecological problems, ethnic discrimination or cleansing, religion, poverty, misinformation, cultural threat and discrimination in the case of HIV/AIDs victims may be added. When such people move across borders they become refugees. The activities of ISIS in Iraq and Syria; Al Shabah in Somalia and Boko-Haram in Nigeria and the West African sub-region have created a flood of refugees and IDPs in the regions mentioned

The Nigerian Situation

Education and Refugee Education

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Findings

Conclusions and Recommendations