A study of Local Non-Governmental organisations (NGOs) as humanitarian Responders in Bakassi internally displaced Persons’ Camp, Borno State, Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria has had to deal with a series of challenges ranging from insurgency, herdsmen-farmers clashes, banditry, and other issues that have persistently been Nigeria’s weakness ever since the country returned to democratic dispensation in 1999. The most profound among them all happens to be the Boko Haram insurgency campaign in the northeastern region of the nation. As a result, Nigeria has assumed the headquarters of internally displaced persons camps in the southern hemisphere (Africa). Predictably, the number of non-governmental organizations’ (NGOs) offering interventions continues to rise due to the dire condition of persons affected by the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency campaign, most especially in Borno State. By situating it within the framework of humanitarian intervention, this article studies the NGOs humanitarian efforts in assisting displaced persons at the Bakassi IDP camp to navigate the rigors of the unanticipated hardship created by the Boko Haram insurgency. This article utilizes a combination of qualitative research methods (semi-in-depth ethnographic observation and interview) to explore how NGOs operated in terms of humanitarian intervention for internally displaced persons at the Bakassi IDP camp. Findings from this study indicate that international donors’ efforts at providing succor for IDPs were undermined as a large chunk of the fund has been mismanaged or diverted to satisfy the rent-seeking desires of the many local NGOs scheme’s handlers. This article concludes that NGOs’ IDP interventions have not been dissimilar to a bizarre advanced fee fraud, as the schemes remain a conduit for scamming international donors by pretending to render humanitarian services for IDPs. It, however, recommends that state, federal, and international donors have crucial roles to play in order to curb local NGOs from deviating from the humanitarian aid they are to offer IDPs.