UnSettlement: Urban displacement in the 21st century: City of challenge and opportunity - Employment and livelihoods for internally displaced people in Maiduguri, Borno State (February 2018)
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Download document Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, declared Boko Haram “technically defeated” in 2015, but in reality the insurgency is far from over. The number of suicide bomb attacks was at its highest in two years in 2017. The group’s violence and the military campaign against it have forced 1.9 million people to flee their homes in north-eastern Nigeria since 2009, and Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, at one point doubled in size as many sought the relative security of the city and its periphery.
Evidence shows that internally displaced people (IDPs) in urban settings such as Maiduguri face a range of challenges in accessing services and employment, and that these are specifically related to their displacement.
They impede their efforts to achieve durable solutions and increase the risk of their becoming trapped in protracted, repeated or cyclical displacement. There is, however, only limited information about how the challenges that IDPs in urban areas face differ from those experienced by their counterparts in rural areas and the broader urban poor.
If they are to achieve durable solutions, IDPs must have access to livelihoods and an adequate standard of living.
The InterAgency Standing Committee (IASC) states: “Employment and livelihoods available to IDPs must allow them to fulfil at least their core socio-economic needs, in particular where these are not guaranteed by public welfare programs.” The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also stresses the importance of labour in improving self-reliance and preventing displacement from becoming protracted.
As IDPs continue to settle in Maiduguri, their access to employment is a key issue for stakeholders in the region. Given job opportunities, they are able to integrate into the socioeconomic framework of their new homes, reduce their dependency on government and humanitarian aid, and contribute to the local economy.
This case study examines that process and considers the opportunities and challenges displaced men and women encounter in securing employment. It is based on a mixed methodology, including desk research and qualitative interviews with IDPs, business leaders, market officials and members of financial institutions and government. The goal was to understand how IDPs achieve durable solutions through economic integration in an urban centre during an active crisis, and how the private sector, government and the international community can support them in doing so.