A Study on the Socioeconomic Impact of Internal Displacement in Nigeria (Case Study North Region)
CHAPTER ONE
- General Objective
The general objective of this study is to know about the feelings, surviving patterns, general psychology, economic conditions and view of perception of displaced people of The Northern Region.
- Specific Objectives
The specific objectives of this study are:
- To identify and compare the previous and current economic condition, which is the economic impact of internal displacement.
- To identify and compare the previous and current social condition, which is the social impact of internal displacement.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
CONCEPTUAL REVIEW
CONCEPTS/LITERATURE REVIEW
Socio-economic is the combination of both social and economic conditions. Economic deals with the production, distribution or management of wealth or pertaining to the financial matters of a country, or in this context household-family. Jain, (2012) further expands our understandings as he stressed that this sector comprises: primary, secondary and tertiary sector. The primary sector refers to the part of the economy that deals with production of raw materials such as crude oil, timber, grain or cotton. The secondary sector is made up of mills and factories, turning or transforming raw materials into manufactured or finish goods, like fuel, lumber, flour, or fabric while the tertiary sector refers to services rather than goods, and includes distribution of manufactured goods, food and hospitality services, banking, sales and professional services like: architects, physicians, and attorneys. Although, the economy of an emerging nation like Nigeria is still dominated with primary products such as agricultural produce as well as mineral both of which are exported raw without any refining (Alubo, 2012). All the affected areas rely on agriculture as their main economic activity. As true with agriculture in Nigeria, its labour intensive nature means that mass departure could only impede such activities. The various crises especially the activities of Boko Haram in northern Nigeria impede the basic economic source of thousands and thousands of families. The social aspect on the other hand deals with society or its organization or public welfare. In this context, the health, socialization and the psychological characteristics of the family make up the social aspect.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
The basic purpose of this study is to explore the reality and nature of socio-economic conditions of displaced people. Therefore both exploratory and descriptive research designs are used to disclose the real facts of the current study.
Sampling Procedure and Sample Size
Since the IDPs are mobile in nature, no fixed and permanent settlements are made for them; a non-probability sampling technique is used for identifying respondents for this study. This study is based on purposive sampling method. This study has focused on 213 respondents. By the help of these 213 respondents, the displaced people’s socio- economic impact, their feelings, surviving patterns, general psychology, economic conditions and view of perception has been studied.
CHAPTER FOUR
DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF IDP
Age-Sex Structure
Age-Sex structure shows the age-sex distribution of the each respondent. Age-Sex structure plays an important role in research.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusions
The main occupation of the displaced people is found to be agriculture but after displacement they are not allowed and/or able to do agriculture on their land. Their lands are either abandoned unproductively or used by Maoists. Their income from agriculture after displacement is nil. In the place of destination the displaced people those who are employed are satisfied with the income they earn. The number of people engaged in business has increased and they are making good money in average in comparison to the place of the origin. The economic support from abroad is increased after displacement. This is because many people flee to third country after displacement and to give run-up to their family in Nigeria they keep on sending money from abroad.
The educational and health status of the displaced children/people is increased and improved as well after displacement. This is due to rural people displaced towards urban and suburban area where the facilities for education and health are much better than previous condition. The cultural and traditional practices and the psychological status have negative impact due to conflict. The cultural and traditional practices is deteriorating and it is definitely that if the people have to leave their place of origin by force, threat and killing of family members, relatives than people get psychologically ill.
Internal crises of whatever variant pose enormous threat to the Nigeria state. It is a challenge both to the nature and character of the state and her institutions. The ubiquity of its occurrence and humanitarian crisis its unleashed will be too burdensome for our planned development, cooperate existence and future survival if the phenomenon is not adequately and permanent put to rest. Internal displacement remains a pressing issue in Nigeria today. While some significant displacement crises have attenuated due to the cessation of hostilities and tens of thousands of IDPs have been able to return to their original places of residence, over three million more in various camps in Nigeria remain in a precarious situation and new situations of internal displacement continue to occur. A great deal therefore remains to be done to address IDPs’ protection and assistance needs, to find durable solutions to their plight and to prevent further displacement from taking place.
Recommendations
For most people the solution is straight forward, to start with: if you commit a crime, you should be brought to book. On this note, our government must hold people responsible for their crime and persecute them accordingly if found guilty. As the Nobel Laureate, Soyinka cited in Oguamanam (2016) clearly stated, “For every crime, there is a punishment, for every violation, there must be restitution. In a country such as Nigeria, where there are no easy fixes, we must also examine the issues of accountability which has to be a strong component in our fight against any form of future violence and crises that can lead to such mass displacement of our citizens.
Again, we must drop every form of ethnic and religious hatred upheavals and accept our difference and live together as one entity. It is crystals clear that we need to fight this new enemy with everything at our disposal. Most importantly, we need to identify leaders with the right kind of character, education, and background. Someone who understands what is at stake – where Nigeria had been, and, where it needed to go to lead us in this new era of our existence. For the second time in our short history we had to face the disturbing fact that Nigeria – as Achebe, (2012) will put it, needed to liberate herself anew, this time not from a foreign powers but from ourselves and our inherited hatred for one another. Alternative ways of resolving matters should be considered instead of toeing the path of vengeance and violence. The simple truth is, violence of any kind can only begets further violence. Dialogue, tolerance and understanding must be embraced as sure means to achieving peaceful co-existence among the people of differing faiths, belief systems, backgrounds, ethnics among others.
Furthermore, The Nigerian government must tackle the problems of endemic poverty and the ever increasing rate of youth unemployment especially its graduate variant. Since the inception of democratic rule in 1999 to date, there has not been any viable industry or any policy framework marshalling out appropriate plans to carry the youths along. This trend makes them vulnerable to crime and any crisis upheaval as they are easily manipulated and recruited by politicians and other crises driven agents.
Finally, the federal government should also, if it has not done so, designate an authority or body to coordinate activities to protect and assist internally displaced people. The federal government should assign responsibilities to appropriate agencies for protection and assistance, and for cooperating with relevant international organizations or agencies, and nongovernmental groups, in accordance with article 3(2) (b) of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) convention.
REFERENCES
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- Bhattarai, A. Mohan, 2001, Displacement and Rehabilitation in Nigeria: Law Policy and Practice (Delhi: Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd).
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