By Samuel Akpobome Orovwuje
Some part of Nigeria recently witnessed an unprecedented flooding as result of the rise in sea level and climate change. The unprecedented destruction in term of human lives, property and degredation of the environment is still very fresh in the minds of Nigerians.
These natural disasters bring to question the preparedness of the Nigerian government in responding to crisis of such magnitude. The presidential committee on flood relief and rehabilitation inaugurated by the President, Good luck Ebele Jonathan is an ad hoc in nature and would not respond to the needs of the displaced persons as contained in the 1998 United Nations Guiding Principles on internal displacement which Nigeria is a signatory and by extension the 2009 African Union Convention for the protection and assistance of internally displaced persons in Africa. This is also known as the Kampala Convention. This convention has been ratified by Nigeria.
In International Customary law, the Nigerian state has the moral and constitutional responsibility to protect its citizens and at the moment there are no coherent and sustainable legislations, institutional and organisational framework that is dedicated to the plights of internally displaced persons (IDPs). The only constitutional provision are the National Emergency Management Agency(NEMA) and the National Commission for Refugee(NCFR) and perhaps The Human Rights Commission but there are no clear mandate to responding to issues of displacement arising from conflicts and natural disasters.
In the light of the emerging scenario from climate change and other violent conflicts in Nigeria it is imperative for president Good luck Jonathan to quickly adopt the draft report on the National Policy on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) which was prepared since 2003 and was recently presented to the federal government. The Presidential Committee on Flood relief and Rehabilitation will not be in a position to sustain the projected natural disasters and the humanitarian interventions mechanism that is required for forced migration induced by climate change.
The proposed National Policy on IDPs is well articulated to provide assistance and protection in the broad areas of profiling and documentation of IDPs, allocation of clear responsibilities among agencies, however, one of the major challenge of the policy is that it lack legal status from the national assembly and therefore its institutional mandate will be difficult to enforce under the law. Furthermore, the current provision in the National Commission for Refugee which is the lead organisation is also inadequate to address the existing institutional and organisational gaps
The policy should address core issues of the fundamental rights of the individuals as enshrined and guaranteed in the 1999 Nigerian constitution and taking into account the Kampala convention on the protection mechanism for IDPs particularly the recent flood victims across the length and breadth of Nigeria. The humanitarian concept of Do No Harm is currently being abuse by the Nigerian Government by the ad hoc manner by which the matter has been handled so far. While the committee job is to raise fund on behalf the Government is a welcome development, the domestication of the Kampala Convention cannot be overemphasized at this point in time.
Therefore the federal government should as matter of urgency take adequate constitutional responsibility for IDPs through a sustained legal and institutional framework that will address relief, rehabilitation, resettlement and reintegration of victims of the recent flooding through legislative means.
By Samuel Akpobome Orovwuje
(08034745325)
Founder, Humanitarian Care for Displaced Persons, Lagos.