What will be the fate of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Wasu, Apo district of Abuja, if the landlords of the estate insist on ejecting them from the camp? Will evicting them from the camp provided to them by authorities not put more hardship on them and make life worse for them? Definitely, they will suffer more if the owners of the estate make good their eviction threat.
These are the concern of Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), a human rights organisation.
Worried by the fate of the IDPs, the organisation has written to President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene by halting the forced eviction of IDPs from their camps in Abuja and across the country.
SERAP, has in an open letter to Buhari, urged him to use his “good offices and leadership to urgently intervene to stop the threat of forced eviction of IDPs in Wasu IDP camp in Apo District of Abuja or any other camp across the country.”
However, the United Nations (UN) has urged the international community to scale up support for IDPs in Nigeria’s North East.
UN Resident Coordinator and United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative, Mr. Daouda Toure, made the appeal against the backdrop of the 2015 World Humanitarian Day. He underscored the challenges of access to IDPs in the troubled regions, owing to heightened insecurity.
In the letter signed by its executive director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, SERAP expressed serious concern that several IDPs in Wasu face forced eviction, following an eviction notice by the owner of the estate in which they had taken refuge.
“We are concerned that unless you urgently intervene, the IDPs involved may be rendered homeless and destitute and left without water, food or other critical assistance.”
According to the organisation, “Any permanent or temporary removal of individuals, families or communities against their will from the homes or land they occupy, without providing access to appropriate legal or other protection, is forced eviction and therefore unlawful under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to which Nigeria is a state party.”
It passionately appealed to the president to urgently intervene in the matter to ensure that the threat of forced eviction of the IDPs is not carried out by the landlord.
In addition, it urged the president to address, as a matter of priority, the miserable and unsafe living conditions for thousands of IDPs across the country and to ensure that all IDPs are provided much-needed water and sanitation and allowed to leave in dignity, without continuing threat of them being rendered homeless and destitute.
In the letter, the organisation noted that Nigeria ratified the African Union (AU)’s Kampala Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons on April 17, 2012. Nigeria also deposited the instruments with the AU on May 22, 2012.
The Convention imposes legally-binding obligations on the Nigerian government to respect the human rights of the displaced without discrimination, and to prevent displacement as well as protect and assist the IDPs and identify durable solutions to their conditions.
According to SERAP, “The Nigerian government is also obligated under the Convention to protect IDPs against forcible return to or resettlement in any place where their lives, safety, liberty or health could be at risk. The government is also expected to consult with internally displaced people, allow them to participate in decisions regarding their protection and assistance, and allow them to make free and informed choices on whether to return, relocate or locally integrate.”
The IDPs involved have not been given adequate notification, and the authorities have not provided them with any viable relocation or local integration options, the rights group said. “The government should publicly make clear that it will not accept forced eviction of IDPs from their camps. Any plan to move IDPs from their camps must inevitably include a clear commitment to ensure their security and access to basic assistance”.
Consequently, the organisation has therefore implored the president to take immediate steps to adopt and effectively implement the IDP policy to ensure full compliance with international law, including the Kampala Convention; introduce comprehensive, effective and coherent laws, policies and plans to prevent and penalise forced evictions of IDPs; institutionalise genuine consultation and participation of affected communities, together with humanitarian and development agencies; and introduce measures to provide legal security of tenure to IDPs.
ActionAid Nigeria speaks
When contacted to speak on the eviction, the Human Security Manager of ActionAid Nigeria, Gbenga Olajuyigbe, explained that the said camp was actually provided by an individual out of sympathy, adding that government failed to provide alternative camp for the IDPs.
He posited that it could be that the owner of the estate wants to develop it, hence the eviction notice.
“It is the responsibility of government to provide camps and move the IDPs to government-managed camps; but it is failing in her responsibilities to the persons who were displaced not by their own making but by circumstances beyond their imagination,” he said.
ActionAid noted that there are no plans for even the government-managed camps.
The anti-poverty organisation blames the government for lack of welfare to her displaced citizens and tasked government to provide camps for them.
“The responsibility should go to government because its constitutional primary responsibility is the welfare of its citizens.”
It sympathised with the displaced persons who are in camps under harsh weather and conditions, adding “Government should protect their rights.”