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Africa in Transition
Campbell tracks political and security developments across sub-Saharan Africa.
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United States Humanitarian Assistance to Nigerian Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees

by John Campbell
September 18, 2015
Women displaced by Boko Haram violence residing at the IDP camp yola, are briefed before other women and children rescued from Boko Haram in Sambisa forest by Nigeria Military arrive at the Internally displaced people's camp in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria, May 2, 2015. (Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde) Women displaced by Boko Haram violence residing at the IDP camp yola, are briefed before other women and children rescued from Boko Haram in Sambisa forest by Nigeria Military arrive at the Internally displaced people's camp in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria, May 2, 2015. (Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde)
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The conflict with Boko Haram has resulted in a humanitarian catastrophe in northeastern Nigeria and adjacent parts of Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, with estimates of internally displaced persons (IDP) and refugees sometimes approaching two million. In addition, acute malnutrition is widespread. On August 21, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) issued a useful fact sheet that profiles the severity of the crisis, drawing largely on United Nations (UN) statistics. It also provides useful facts and figures on U.S. humanitarian assistance. Some highlights of the USAID fact sheet are given below.

The figures provided by USAID are bound to be imprecise because of the circumstances under which they are gathered. But, they provide a benchmark. (The figures describing U.S. assistance reflect the U.S. budget process and may be assumed to be accurate.)

The crisis by the numbers:

• 1.4 million internally displaced persons in Nigeria as of June 2015 (down from 1.5 million earlier in the year)
• 172,400 Nigerian refugees in neighboring countries
• 3.5 million Nigerians face food insecurity
• 1.5 million malnourished children under the age of five and pregnant and lactating women
• 24.5 million people subject to recurrent Boko Haram attacks

Of the ten largest donors the United States has provided approximately half of the humanitarian funding to Nigeria in 2015. The figures below are for the current calendar year, up to August 21:

• United States- $63,831,160*
• European Commission- $24,646,961
• United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (UN CERF)- $9,889,075
• United Kingdom- $6,164,606
• Netherlands- $5,724,355
• Japan- $5,700,000
• Sweden- $4,342,586
• Germany- $3,733,313
• Canada- $2,942,975
• Switzerland- $2,350,156

* U.S. numbers reflect the current fiscal year which runs from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015