Boko Haram crisis getting worse – Aid agency

BY OUR EDITOR

Contrary to official account by the military and Presidency that Nigeria is winning the war against insurgency, the country’s Head of Mission of Medicine San frontier, Mr. Luis Eguiluz, believes the Boko Haram crisis in the Northeast is getting worse while humanitarian needs are getting massive by the day.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, pandemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare. The group offers assistance to people based on need and irrespective of race, religion, gender or political affiliation.

Eguiluz, in an interview published on the MSF website said that over seven million people directly affected by the crisis are currently dependent on humanitarian aid for survival, The Nation reports.

“After more than 10 years of conflict between non-state armed groups and the Nigerian military, the situation is only getting worse,” he said.

He added: “The conflict is intensifying and the needs are massive. The United Nations estimates that there are more than two million people who have been displaced from their homes due to violence, and more than seven million who depend entirely on humanitarian aid to survive.

The most serious problem is that there are more than a million people living in areas controlled by non-state armed groups – humanitarian organizations do not have access to these areas, and the people living there do not receive any kind of aid at all.

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“The conflict may be nothing new, but this crisis is extreme, and it is happening right now; in our projects we witness the impact that it has on human beings.”

Eguiluz who has served out his mission in Nigeria explained that providing humanitarian services to those in dire need has also become a serious challenge to aid workers following the killing and abduction of some of the aid workers.

His words: “The security situation has clearly deteriorated in recent months, and it is a challenge for humanitarian organizations to provide adequate assistance to the population. On the one hand, organizations face the risk of violence – unfortunately, the killings and abductions of humanitarian staff have increased in recent months – and because of this, the presence of aid is very limited outside the state capital, Maiduguri. On the other hand, counter-terrorism laws in Nigeria impose real limitations on humanitarian action and principles.

“In ‘garrison towns’ ­– towns controlled by the Nigerian military ­– there are still critical needs that are not covered, especially when it comes to healthcare, clean water, shelter and protection. In many cases, the population is totally dependent on humanitarian aid to survive.

“In the case of Pulka, the population has tripled since the beginning of the conflict and there isn’t enough farmland to cultivate. In addition, people cannot go beyond the town’s military perimeter. If they do, they run the risk of being attacked by non-state armed groups or being considered part of the armed groups by the Nigerian military. And outside the garrison towns, the needs are expected to be even higher since there are more than one million people that have not received humanitarian assistance since the beginning of the conflict.”