Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria and the Kampala Convention

Abstract

This article examines the management of internal displacement in Nigeria using the Kampala Convention as a guide and defines key concepts for a better understanding of the issues under consideration. This paper also examines the history and causes of internal displacement in Nigeria. The article shows that Nigeria has a total of 981,416 internally displaces persons currently. It did an overview of the Kampala Convention and other relevant laws in Nigeria. This is necessary because the article discovered that the Kampala Convention has not been domesticated in Nigeria although it has been ratified. The implication of this is that the Convention will not be applicable until it has been domesticated in line with the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution. A critical examination of the relevant agencies involved in the management of internal displacements forms part of the discussion. Their roles and challenges were highlighted by this article. It concludes by encouraging the government to domesticate the relevant laws and to adequately fund the relevant agencies. This will help in achieving durable solutions to displacements. The article suggests that the root causes of displacements in Nigeria should be tackled and that government policies that engender arbitrary displacements should be challenged and concludes by noting that curbing internal displacements should be a collective effort on the part of the government and its agencies, nongovernmental organizations, non-state actors and individuals.