Highlights
- IOM conducted the seventh round of DTM assessment from 9 November to 21 December 2015. 2,151,979 IDPs were identified in 13 states. Biometric registration was launched in Maiduguri.
- IOM’s psychosocial mobile teams reached 6,502 people in December in Borno and Adamawa States, including counselling, recreational activities, sensitization on GBV, family visits and referrals.
- IOM distributed 1,329 non-food items kits, and 828 kitchen sets in December in Borno and Adamawa States. 100 reinforced emergency shelters have been constructed to date in Borno, with more underway.
Situation Overview
IOM is the leading intergovernmental organization in the field of migration and works in four broad areas of migration management in Nigeria: migration and development, facilitating migration, regulating migration and addressing forced migration. Since July 2014, IOM has been providing humanitarian assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs) affected by the Boko Haram insurgency in North East Nigeria.
Since the beginning of 2014, the North East has witnessed an increase in violence, causing a major humanitarian crisis. The intensification of attacks by Boko Haram, as well as the counter-insurgency activities of the Nigerian government, has led to the displacement of more than two million individuals, with highest displacement in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States. Two years after the crisis began, and despite the fact that some IDPs have started to return home, the situation in the ground is dire and most of the affected population is yet to receive humanitarian assistance.
In December 2015, more than 1600 people were transported from camps in Adamawa State back to Borno, their home state, with assistance from the Government. The majority of these people have been absorbed into existing formal camps in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno—still unable to return home, as their places of origin remain unstable. This has placed additional burden on basic facilities that were already stretched, including shelter, water and sanitation in those camps. As reflected in the latest rounds of DTM, there has also been a recent rise in the number and size of informal camps, especially in Yobe State. One contributing factor to this growth may be movement of people from rural areas towards larger villages and towns in search of food and services, which has been reported anecdotally. Conditions in informal camps in Yobe and elsewhere are extremely basic, with urgent need for frontline emergency response.