Boko Haram refugees in Niger find safety, but lack aid

Refugees in the southeastern region of Niger say they no longer fear Boko Haram, but their problems are far from over.

Diffa, Niger - As Nigerian forces have progressed against Boko Haram, the cornered terror group has been carrying out more attacks in neighbouring countries. In Niger's Diffa region on the northeastern border of Nigeria, more than 280,000 people have been displaced. 

Most of the displaced, do not live in refugee camps, but in ramshackle settlements next to a national highway. The situation continues to deteriorate and new families arrive on a daily basis, fleeing violence and hunger in the Lake Chad Basin. Humanitarian aid organisations struggle to reach everyone in need of assistance.

Only a few years ago, Diffa was mainly known as a trade region. Bordering Lake Chad and blessed with a relative fertile ground in this semi-desert environment. Fish and agricultural products such as millet, pepper and maize were widely available at local markets.

Since February 2015 however, the deadly Boko Haram incursions have drastically changed the lives of local residents.

The strict curfew, closing of markets and the suspension of trade has led to an economic downturn, resulting in a humanitarian crisis.

According to the United Nations, the people of Diffa are arguably the poorest on earth, living in the least developed region in the least developed country of the world. Meanwhile, one refugee for every four residents has arrived in their communities as a result of the conflict.

Perilous life along the road

Driving on the national highway towards Diffa town, beside the perilous border with Nigeria, dozens of makeshift camps appear along the tarmac road. The apparent safe haven for refugees is relative. Scores of suicide bombings by Boko Haram infiltrators on this route have left people on edge.

But, as most of the displaced are farmers and herders who remain strongly attached to their soil, they feel that moving further away from the volatile border area, towards existing refugee camps about 50 kilometres up north, is out of the question.

Many of them still return to visit their farmlands even in high-risk areas, because with the absence of ownership registration, they fear others might seize their property if it is not maintained.

"Next to this road we have direct access to information, food and services. We all believe that eventually we will be able to return safely, and moving away from our land would mean losing it," explains Amadou, a Nigerien herder.

Some of the displaced received basic tents from humanitarian actors, but the vast majority built improvised shacks with whatever materials they could find: straw, tarpaulins or wooden twigs. Some of the recent arrivals still live in the open.

Village chief Andre laments the shortage in resources in Assaga settlement. "We are not able to produce our own supplies, and what we receive from food distribution is barely enough: only 12kg of cereal per family per month. Many live on one meal a day."

Hawa, a young mother of five children, says she is struggling every morning to find enough food for her family. "There is some foodstuff at local markets, but we have no money to buy it. I'm no longer able to produce milk to breastfeed my infant due to lack of nourishment."

Of the 20 million people living in the Lake Chad Basin, a region stretched over Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroun, at least 9.2 million are in urgent need of life-saving assistance and more than five million people are severely food insecure [PDF]. At least four million people have no access to aid, say humanitarian organisations.

According to UNICEF, an estimated 475,000 children across Lake Chad will suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year. In the northeast of Nigeria, where Boko Haram has been seeking to carve out a hardline Islamist state since 2009, the military confirmed that three to four people a day are dying due to malnutrition. However, humanitarian organisations say this figure is probably much higher as many areas remain unreachable.

Lives in limbo

Attacks in Niger are usually directed towards military targets, but often they are accompanied by plundering of food supplies. 

In June 2016, one of the deadliest assaults was carried out in Bosso town. Thirty-two soldiers were killed, while around 70,000 people were displaced. Many of the residents had already been evacuated a year earlier from islands on Lake Chad.

Ibrahim, a 45-year-old Nigerian, owned a small shop in Bosso. As he prepared for morning prayers one day, explosions and screaming reverberated through the village. He managed to escape with his two wives and nine children, after which they had to walk four days to find aid.

"We arrived with nothing. Not even a piece of soap. All we can do now is wait. Hope for safety to return so we can head back to our village and lands," Ibrahim said.

Following the onslaught in Bosso, Chad sent troops to Niger to help the West African joint task force to wage a counterattack against Boko Haram, while the government of Niger has extended a state of emergency until October 2016. 

A crisis for children

With a median age of under 15, Niger has the world's youngest population. This is decidedly visible in the populations of refugees and displaced, about 55 percent of whom are children. 

More than 150,000 boys and girls barely have access to education because of limited schooling in the nearby villages, which are already overcrowded, and because of closures of many schools in insecure border areas, according to UNHCR.

In the makeshift encampments, children loiter around while the days pass by, making them vulnerable targets for the fighting groups. Since the start of the conflict, thousands of minors have been recruited, often by force, and used to carry out attacks. Nearly one in five suicide bombers is a child.

"Providing them with a perspective for the future, with education, assistance and social services, is the best way to prevent recruitment," says Viviane Van Steirteghem, country representative for UNICEF in Niger.

Shortage of funds

Along with UNICEF, 30 other aid organisations operate in the area providing relief for the displaced, but they say they are underfunded and overstretched.

Given the scale of the crisis, UNICEF has revised funding requirements to $308m to provide life-saving assistance to families affected by Boko Haram violence across Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon. But the international donor community reacts slowly, as only 41 million, a mere 13 percent, has been received according to the UNICEF representative.

"We are witnessing a unique global situation, with an unseen number of high-scale, long-lasting conflicts. Never before were so many people forced to flee their homes. With everything that's going on, there is a lack of attention of what the people around Lake Chad have to endure," Van Steirteghem explains.

Further delay in funding for emergency operations in Niger and by extension the Lake Chad Basin will contribute to a deepening of the crisis and steeper financial requirements later on.

"Additional funding is needed to develop livelihoods for people in need, so that they can become self-reliant and once again a part of the economic development in the region," says Van Steirteghem.

This reportage was realised with the support of UNICEF, Postcode Lottery Fund and the Fund BJP.

SOURCE: Aljazeera.

Ambode promises to deal with sex offenders, others

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Thursday led a walk against sexual and gender –based violence, vowing that his administration would ensure that all perpetrators of sexual crimes face the wrath of the law.

The members of the Lagos State Executive Council, members of the Sttate House of Assembly and entertainers, among others, joined in the walk, which started from the Ikeja under bridge area through Awolowo Way to the Lagos House, Alausa.

The governor, who displayed a placard with the inscription ‘Stop Rape, Domestic Violence, Child Abuse’, said men must take a stand by tackling the menace of gender-based crimes in the society.

He said, “Women are mostly the victims of sexual and gender-based violence and there is an evident trend of suppressing the voice of these victims due to the fact that these acts are perpetrated largely by men.

“We should not take for granted the effect of having emotionally and psychologically damaged women in our society, which could transcend to our children.”

Ambode said the government had initiated several programmes to assist the victims, adding that it was also pertinent to address the violent behaviour of men.

He said, “We firmly believe that the way forward is to continuously engage the men, as well as the community as a whole, to prevent and respond to all forms of gender-based violence.”

Ambode urged the participants in the walk to remain ambassadors in the fight against domestic and sexual violence.

“The conversation must be sustained in our workplaces, religious institutions, residential areas and the social media. If we all join hands, we can truly make Lagos uncomfortable for perpetrators of sexual and gender-based violence,” he added.

The governor also commended the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team, organisers of the walk, just as he said his administration would do more to ensure that the rights of the vulnerable in the state were adequately protected.
SOURCE: Punchng

Boko Haram violence taking “devastating toll” on children

Years of violence by Islamist Boko Haram militants have taken a “devastating toll” on children living in the Lake Chad basin, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday.

The insurgency displaced 1.4 million children in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger and left at least another one million trapped in areas that are hard to reach or under the control of Boko Haram, the agency said.

An estimated 475,000 children across Lake Chad are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year, up from 175,000 at the beginning of the year, according to the report.

“Humanitarian needs are outpacing the response,” warned UNICEF regional director for West and Central Africa Manuel Fontaine.

In north-eastern Nigeria alone, where Boko Haram has its strongholds, an estimated 20,000 children have been separated from their families.

About 38 children have been used to carry out suicide attacks in the Lake Chad basin so far this year, the UN said, bringing to 86 the number of children used as suicide bombers since 2014.

Earlier this week, the World Food Programme warned that the number of people who need food aid in north-eastern Nigeria has almost doubled to 4.5 million between March and August.

Boko Haram poses a steady threat to communities in the north-east of Nigeria and has also launched offensives in neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

SOURCE: Premiumtimesng

Police Rescue 13 Children, 15 Adults Chained in House in Lagos

The Lagos State Police Command at the weekend rescued 13 children and 15 adults chained and locked up by one Emmanuel Adeyemi at the Oke-ira area of Ojodu, Lagos.

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, CP Fatai Owoseni, acting on a tip-off, had deployed operatives from the Area G Command Headquarters to the scene.

Although the initial intelligence report was that a teenager was chained in the house at Oyinbo Unity Estate, Olamidun Close, Yakoyo, Oke-Ira, Ojodu, subsequent search of the residence by the police revealed 27 others apart from the 17-year-old Toba Adedoyin the Police had gone to rescue.

Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent of Police, said, “The command received a report through Area ‘G’ Command Headquarters, Ogba, that a child was chained in a house at Oyinbo Unity Estate, Olamidun Close, Yakoyo, Oke-Ira, Ojodu.

“Consequently, a team of policemen was mobilized to the location where a teenager named Toba Adedoyin ‘m’, aged 17, was found in a room with a chain on his legs.

“The victim was allegedly chained by one Emmanuel Adeyemi ‘m’ who claimed to be his father, in order to restrain him from going out.

” Further search of the premises led to the discovery of other people chained by the suspect.

“A total number of 28 persons, comprising six adult males, nine adult females, seven female children and six male children were rescued and taken to protective custody.

“A suspect has been arrested and is currently undergoing interrogation as the command is working assiduously to get to the root of the occurrence.”

SOURCE: Thisdaylive

Dozens killed in Nigerian town as Boko Haram attacks intensify

Suspected Boko Haram insurgents have rounded up and shot dead dozens of people in a raid in a town in northeast Nigeria, military and local sources said, part of a resurgence of attacks in Borno state in the past month. A member of a local self-defence group said he had been told by a colleague who fled the attack and then returned to the town that 97 bodies had been found, some badly charred because the attackers had set houses on fire.

There was no immediate official comment from the security forces, or a confirmed death toll. Separately, a young female suicide bomber killed at least 12 people when she blew herself up in a mosque in the northeast of the country, a witness said. The witness, a member of a vigilante group aiding the military against Boko Haram, said the girl was "aged around 15" and was seen outside the mosque before afternoon prayers yesterday.

Boko Haram insurgents have killed thousands of people and left about 1.5 million others displaced in a six-year-old insurgency to create an Islamic caliphate in the northeast of Nigeria. A further seven people were injured in the attack. At the end of last year the group controlled an area roughly the size of Belgium but lost huge chunks of territory when the military went on the offensive in the months before a presidential election in March. By then, the military said it had taken back all but three out of 20 local government areas previously controlled by the Islamist militants. But the last month has seen a resurgence in attacks, many in Maiduguri, the biggest city in northeast Nigeria. New President Muhammadu Buhari moved the army's command centre for the campaign against Boko Haram to the Borno state capital after coming to power.

On Tuesday, gunmen attacked two nearby villages elsewhere in Borno state killing 48 people, according to a police spokesman. Mr Buhari, who was inaugurated on 29 May, has held talks with officials from neighbouring countries Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Benin to set up a regional force to tackle the insurgents. The fight against Boko Haram is also expected to be high on the agenda when President Buhari travels to Washington to meet US President Barack Obama on 20 July. @Rtenews

How Do You Feel When Your Little Ones Dabbles With Expensive Stuff?

I can recall the stress I went through in search of an ORIGINAL COCONUT OIL for my 6 inches long natural hair. It was on a Monday morning, trying to beat the usual traffic in Lagos, and as things were done hastily, I placed the coconut oil on my dressing table and before I could turn my back, I saw my little angle playing with splashed oil on the floor. For a moment it was, am I dreaming? Then it dawned on me that she had messed the whole place up. Hian! It pained me to my bone marrows. I looked at her, and gave those tiny toes she used in kicking the bottle a very good spanking. How do you feel when your little one(s) dabbles with important/expensive stuff?