Until Boko Haram, the issue of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) was, essentially, an academic subject discussed in relation to war-torn countries of Africa where Nigeria, as part of its peace- keeping efforts, devoted enormous resources to assist. Then, they were more of refugees moving outside their countries.

Nigerians became aware of the term IDPs when parts of the North, especially, the North East states of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and to a lesser extent, Bauchi and Gombe, became theatres of insurgency and the resultant conflicts as a result of the terrorist activities of that dreaded religious sect. People began to leave their homes in droves and to nowhere in particular creating, in the process, the problem of socio-economic dislocation.

The kidnap of the Chiboks Girls brought home the seriousness of the matter which was not helped by the initial prevarication of the political leaders. This vacuum heightened anxieties as to the consequences of prolonged internal displacement such as worsening the rate of school drop-outs, drugs, other crimes and the implication of breeding and raising children under such dire conditions.

As far as security is concerned, the Federal Government’s response since the insurgency sprang up has been abysmally slow, inadequate and poorly directed at the victims who need help and protection. Also, there has not been proper inter-agency coordination, communication and cooperation among the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) who claim to be helping in the fight or rehabilitating the people. Helping the region in our view, is supposed to be a team effort. That is the norm in crises-ridden regions all over the world.

But as the Muhammadu Buhari administration strives to bring the situation under control, there is the urgency to create an environment for the displaced peoples to go back home and try to rebuild their lives. Even that is posing a serious challenge with regard to the modalities. In most of those areas, infrastructure is almost not existent.

The government is making efforts to restore normalcy in those parts. The prevalent economic constraints seem to hamper activities in that regard. However, and in our opinion, one way of fast-tracking the reconstruction that must be carried out is to use the military which has a well- developed corps of engineers, educationists and medical personnel. Another is to adopt a legal frame-work that will define and provide for the respective obligations and responsibilities of every stakeholder from governments, non-state agencies and individuals.

Already, the African Union (AU) Convention for the Protection of and Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons, otherwise called ‘Kampala Convention’ has been adopted as a model by the African Union between 2010 and 2012. It has also been ratified by many of the AU’s members. But it is yet to be domesticated by Nigeria.

To this end, we encourage the Executive arm of government to adopt this and domesticate it. The process involves taking it to the National Assembly as an Executive Bill. This is for ease of facilitation. The National Commission for Refugees has since communicated it to the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), which will now, hopefully, and on behalf of the agency, bring it to the National Assembly.

We think that the Convention, in its provision, made far – reaching recommendations as to the roles countries and other stakeholders can play in resolving issues and managing other matters that can prevent incidences and conflicts that create room for IDPs.