Development agencies and international NGOs face worsening security in Nigeria, requiring them to implement robust security strategies to protect their staff, other assets and the disadvantaged communities increasingly reliant on them for support, says the risk and security management consultancy Edinburgh International.
In the latest humanitarian crisis to beset the country, a food shortage is now threatening rural populations in the northern and central regions of the African state.
Food insecurity, which the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs has identified as a key priority in the restive states of Borno, Taraba, Yobe and Adamawa, correlates directly with the surge in Boko Haram operations during 2014, which has forced the displacement of nearly half a million Nigerians’.
Tim Jones, Edinburgh International’s risk and commercial advisory manager, said: “The support of international NGOs in mitigating the worst effects in afflicted communities will continue to be key. But as the frequency of attacks continues to increase, INGOs – despite a well-established presence – will face increasingly complex security challenges when conducting their operations.”
While insecurity is the concern influencing NGO strategy in allocating and distributing resources, it continues to cause delays and disruption in the delivery of aid to the problem northern states, where foreign workers are regular targets of kidnapping. Sectarian conflict and fighting between the Nigerian security forces, Boko Haram militants, and various armed groups thriving on Nigeria’s security vacuum, have compounded the problems of a short rainy season and the lack of effective infrastructure. Communal tensions have also added more fuel to the instability, the consultancy says.
Despite this, Nigeria remains one of the largest recipients of development aid assistance – and major organisations are planning to increase their budgets in the country. The European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid department has committed to spending US$13 million in 2014 to provide food and medical assistance to victims of violence.
Government aid agencies, such as USAID, regard the stability of Nigeria as crucial to wider regional stability and are working hard to mobilise further projects in the North. In its latest assessment, Edinburgh International says that Boko Haram have succeeded in halting many large aid projects in neighbouring Cameroon by using actual and threatened violence.
“We believe it is inevitable that Boko Haram will increasingly use this tactic to target aid as a means of controlling communities and leveraging power. The expected increase in international efforts to respond to the unfolding food crisis is likely to amplify the security challenges presented by Boko Haram and other armed groups,” the Group says.
