IDMC Report: Multiple displacement crises in Nigeria overshadowed by the situation in the northeast

An interesting report of the International Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) describes how the causes of displacement in Nigeria are multi-faceted, complex and often overlapping. Inter-communal clashes fuelled by ethnic and religious tensions flare on a near to weekly basis throughout the Middle Belt, and an increase in insurgents attacks and abductions has uprooted families throughout the northeast. The military’s tactics have caused further displacement as civilians flee pre-emptively. Tens of thousands were displaced during post-electoral protests in 2011, and there are fears of similar violence in the run-up to presidential and parliamentary elections in February 2015. More than two million slum-dwellers and other marginalized people have been forcibly evicted from their homes in urban centers. Also, Nigeria is prone to frequent flooding, which led to the world’s second largest displacement caused by a disaster in 2012. State authorities in northern Nigeria have also recently acknowledged that thousands of people have been displaced as a result of desertification.