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Introduction
Introduction by the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator
There are profound humanitarian needs across Nigeria, including displacement from violence, high levels of malnutrition and food insecurity, in addition to lack of basic services and protection. These needs affect tens of millions of people and we have enumerated them in the Humanitarian Needs Overview.
Many of the humanitarian needs occur because of poverty, poor or absent institutions needed to deliver basic services and fragile rule of law, in addition to intercommunal violence. Tackling these issues are beyond the scope, resources, and capacity of this Humanitarian Response Plan, which addresses the undiminished humanitarian needs in Nigeria’s BAY (Borno, Adamawa and Yobe) states. I am, for example, deeply concerned about severe acute malnutrition among children which is expected to more than double compared to last year. The lives of some 690,000 children are at risk!
Humanitarian needs in the BAY States are in the first instance caused and amplified by the non-international armed conflict now in its 13th year. There are few, if any, signs that the conflict affecting millions of people will come to an end in the short term. Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure raise profound protection concerns and continue to impede access of vulnerable people to assistance. The conflict has a massive negative impact on the people and infrastructure needed to deliver vital and basic services.
More than two million internally displaced people are unable to return to their homes because of widespread insecurity, seeking refuge in garrison towns. Countless others are putting their lives at risk when leaving the relative safety of these towns trying to eke out a living by farming, collecting firewood or pursuing whatever livelihood they can to keep their families alive.
An increasingly evident factor driving humanitarian need is the impact of climate change, undermining the precarious coping mechanisms of vulnerable people.
Last year saw the worst flooding in more than two decades across Nigeria affecting 4.4 million people.
The flooding was a major contributor to the spread of waterborne disease, with cholera killing 390 people in Borno State alone.
At the same time, there are signs of hope. Travelling across the BAY states I have seen countless examples of humanitarian action transforming individual lives.
For instance, the life of Aiso, a mother from Dikwa, was changed when a shelter programme provided her family with a home in January this year. Aiso and her husband were living in a small makeshift shelter for years with their four children, struggling to obtain enough food. With a secure shelter, they are now in a better place to take on the many challenges they face.
When he visited Maiduguri last year, our Secretary General spoke of a “Borno of Hope” based on hearing from some IDPs that they are optimistic about their future despite their current miserable circumstances as well as on observing the efforts to accompany and support those who have from areas controlled by the insurgents. In order to transform hopes into reality, people affected by conflict must be in the driving seat of our collective efforts to bring about a better future.
As partners – including government, civil society, NGOs and the UN – we should all be proud about delivering significant humanitarian assistance to 4.7 million people last year, despite only receiving 63 per cent of the requirement of the Humanitarian Response Plan.
We must adapt the ways we work to make scarce resources go further and to go beyond keeping people alive towards longer-term solutions with dignity and a sense of normalcy.
In this second year of our two-year humanitarian strategy (2022-2023) we will continue to provide lifesaving assistance to those who are most vulnerable.
We have changed the methodology for estimating the number of people in need this year, and there is therefore a very small change in terms of people in need – from 8.4 to 8.3 million people. The important figure to note is the people we are aiming to provide with assistance, some 6 million people. These are people with severe, extreme or catastrophic needs.
This is an increase from 5.5 million people last year.
For the first time we are also seeing some 250,000 people who are experiencing a catastrophic situation, meaning that their coping mechanisms are exhausted, and they are on the verge of collapse. Needless to state, my colleagues and I are very worried about their immediate and long-term future.
Funding for humanitarian work in the north-east of Nigeria has remained stagnant in the last two years.
This year we have, therefore, sought to improve our prioritisation process. We have identified activities that are urgently needed for the most vulnerable 2.4 million people at a cost of $631 million dollars. This is needed today, not tomorrow.
We know from experience around the globe that humanitarian assistance can only be a temporary measure. In a protracted crisis like the one in the BAY states, we must all - authorities, development partners and the private sector - work with communities and people like Aiso to enable alternative and longer-term solutions to people.
We will continue to improve the way we work, including driving innovation and increasing accountability to the people we serve. Another area we will emphasize more is anticipatory action to strengthen vulnerable people’s ability to cope with predictable events such as disease outbreaks and the impact of natural disasters.
We will also incorporate the lessons learned from last year’s flooding to ensure better preparedness and early warning.
Humanitarian workers are at risk every day, as witnessed by colleagues killed, maimed or abducted.
With dedication and heroic acts, they risk their lives to save those of others. Attacks on civilians, our colleagues, and the humanitarian infrastructure that keeps millions of people alive should not be tolerated and must end. We continue to be dependent on the humanitarian hubs and the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) to enable us to operate in a highly volatile and insecure environment.
While we for good reasons are maintaining the focus of this HRP on the north-east, we can not ignore significant and growing humanitarian needs in the rest of the country. As noted earlier, rather than mounting further huge internally supported relief operations, we will in this respect rely on and strengthen development interventions, as well as peacebuilding and conflict resolution initiatives to resolve their underlying causes.
Where necessary, we will establish ad hoc coordination mechanisms for humanitarian partners, such as current efforts to address malnutrition in northwest Nigeria.
And both in the north-east and the rest of the country, we must respect that it is primarily the responsibility of government to keep their citizens safe and to address their humanitarian needs. Where we can and have the resources for it, we will engage to support the strengthening of country-wide humanitarian response and domestic resource mobilisation capacities.
Let me express my profound gratitude to our partners for their tireless efforts to alleviate suffering and save lives under difficult circumstances. I also want to recognise that our work would not be possible without the unwavering commitment of our donors who have stood with the people of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states in their time of need. With your support and solidarity, we will continue together to save, protect, and improve lives in 2023.
Matthias Schmale
United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Nigeria
Foreword
Foreword by the Federal Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development
Millions of vulnerable people in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states in north-east Nigeria are facing a humanitarian and protection crisis due to conflict.
Conflict has caused widespread internal displacement, alarming food insecurity and malnutrition, and outbreaks of diseases such as cholera. The impact of climate change, coupled with high prices of food and essential commodities, and increased population movements, have aggravated the crisis.
Nigeria is on the frontline of the climate crisis. Climate-related shocks continue to exacerbate the needs of the most vulnerable people, as witnessed in the historic flooding across the country last year affecting 4.4 million people.
Despite a significant scale-up of the humanitarian response by the United Nations (UN) and humanitarian partners since 2016 in support of Government efforts, the humanitarian crisis in northeast Nigeria persists.
According to UN activity costing analysis, humanitarian partners will require US $1.3 billion in funding to carry out their activities towards improving the lifesaving and protection needs of 6 million people in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, this year.
This increase reflects broadening and deepening needs in protection, food and nutrition, health care, water, hygiene and sanitation, and shelter among internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees, and host communities. Other contributing factors include camp closures and the influx of people fleeing areas under the control of non-state armed groups.
In March 2022, the Federal Government of Nigeria launched its new National Policy on Internally Displaced Persons, reaffirming and clarifying the obligations and responsibilities of the Government to protect, promote, and fulfill the rights of IDPs, returnees, and host communities.
Internal displacement is a key driver of vulnerability for the over 2 million IDPs who are facing formidable challenges accessing food, shelter, protection, and other basics. Most rely on humanitarian aid, with homelessness and rampant insecurity curtailing their movement and preventing access to farms.
The Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) is a framework for the UN, international and national NGOs, civil society, and the private sector to work in support of the Government of Nigeria to meet affected people’s needs in a focused, prioritised way.
The HRP has a strengthened focus on gender-specific vulnerabilities. affecting women and girls.
This HRP sets attainable goals to improve the situation of women and girls more strategically, as well as of boys and men. Results will be monitored, and achievements consolidated into the Nigeria roadmap for gender equality programming in emergencies (2022-2024).
To help vulnerable people better protect themselves from the impacts of hazards, such as floods and droughts, the HRP will strengthen anticipatory action.
By going beyond preparedness and contingency planning, this will help to lay the foundation for longerterm recovery among crisis affected people, strengthen resilience, and, where feasible, create pathways for development. This is aligned with our 2021 National Humanitarian-Development-Peace Framework, which aims to make humanitarian response more impactful, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development
Cooperation Framework 2023-2027 among other relevant plans and frameworks.
Through the HRP, efforts will continue towards localization, including by increasing direct funding to national NGO partners.
The Government and humanitarian partners remain committed to strengthen the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse, which is a key tenet of our humanitarian action in north-east Nigeria.
The Government of Nigeria will continue to dedicate more resources, and to strengthen engagement with affected people, humanitarian and development donors and the international community towards a resolution of the crisis in north-east Nigeria.
Sadiya Umar Farouq (Mrs)
Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development
Disclaimer
- UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
- To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.