Nigeria is losing heavily to climate change and migration in Northeast

By Edward Nnachi

Borno State in North- East Nigeria has a high number of people who have never had any formal modern education at all. This large number of uneducated people was manageable many years ago when such people were still able to practise their traditional farming, fishing and animal husbandry. But as Lake Chad’s waters and the rivers that flowed into it dried up over the years, due to the harsh climatic conditions such as heat, this large population of people have little or nothing to fall back on. With lack of wetlands and water, farming became difficult.

Even those who had cattle were forced by changes in the climate to go elsewhere to find pasture for them. If anything, the resulting poverty among the people was a major reason why many educated and uneducated were easily attracted to radical new religious movements, particularly the Boko Haram which emerged in the North Eastern part of the country and acted as a new magnet both for uneducated youth displaced from their traditional livelihoods and for educated youth attracted to its egalitarian, anti-corruption preaching. In addition, the region’s disillusioned youth were easily attracted to Boko Haram’s economic programmes which had been shrewdly established to provide means of employment for their growing members.

The changes in frequency and intensity of rainfall over the years brought droughts, changes in soil moisture and nutrient, desertification and heat stress. These adverse weather events constitute important challenges to crop and livestock production and fish farming in North- East Nigeria.

Climate change in North East Nigeria has adversely affected crops from cultivation through growing period to harvest. When crops are adversely affected as they have been in North-East Nigeria, by insufficient rainfall, excessive high temperature and poor crop yield, there is increased risk of hunger and starvation among the people. Thus, it becomes a major economic and political challenge to both Borno State and to the federal government. Also, temperature increases and rainfall patterns become more unpredictable, crop yields drop significantly.

The decrease in rainfall over the years, especially in Borno State which is largely in the Sudan and Sahelian Savannah in Northern Nigeria led to a reduction in available pasture land, a decline in the available surface water and an increase in the salinity of water resources available to animals. These adverse environmental conditions affect livestock production and availability of animal species as food. It must be noted that long before Boko Haram’s terror reared its head the impact of the vanishing Lake Chad and surrounding rivers and streams in the region was so severe that it created a string of untold calamities. The unemployment that came with it was an easy fuel for the Boko Haram doctrinaires.
The story of Ali Jafar, his wife, Khadijat and their three children is just one of approximately 140,000 displaced people taking shelter in Monguno, a remote town of 60,000 people in North-East Nigeria, a region hit by a displacement crisis that dwarfs any migration flows seen in Europe in recent years. It is a story that aptly illustrates Nigeria’s economic and political loss to climate change and migration in North-East Nigeria.
Ali Jafar, a farmer who later became a handcart pusher is a case in point of the multiple traumatic experiences of poor farmers who have been displaced from traditional farming in Borno State. Ali Jafar, 30 years old, fled to Monguno after being attacked by Boko Haram terrorists. He left with his wife, three children and kindling for fire, leaving behind six sacks of beans, 15 dead neighbours, killed by Boko Haram and 10 villagers who were not so lucky as him but were kidnapped by Boko Haram. Ali, his wife and three children trekked all through day and night before getting to Monguno, a town recaptured by Nigerian soldiers from Boko Haram last year. All through the journey, a palpable fear of another attack by another band of Boko Haram terrorists gripped them until they finally got respite in an Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) camp in Monguno. It was indeed a flight for their life.
One outcome of this displacement crisis is an acute food crisis. Already, the United Nations has warned that hundreds of thousands of people may die from famine from 2018 if urgent steps are not taken by all concerned, particularly Nigeria and the international community to safe the millions of people affected by the combination of climate change, migration and Boko Haram attacks in North East Nigeria and the neighbouring riparian countries around Lake Chad.
So far, about 40% more people have been displaced throughout Borno state (1.4 million) than reached Europe by boat in 2015 (1 million). Across North-East Nigeria, the war against Boko Haram has forced more than 2.6 million from their homes, a figure higher than the number of Syrians in Turkey, the country that hosts the largest number of refugees in Europe.
In North-East Nigeria alone, 1.8 million people are internally displaced, more than half of them are children. Some 200,000 people have fled across borders to live as refugees in the neighbouring countries. While some security was restored in Adamawa, Yobe, and parts of Borno states in 2016, recent months have witnessed new upsurge in attacks by Boko Haram across the four riparian countries affected by climate change and Boko Haram terrorists attacks.
Across the Lake Chad Basin, some 7 million people struggling with food insecurity need assistance. In North-East Nigeria alone, more than 1.8 million are food insecure at emergency levels. In Borno state, 55,000 people are facing famine-like conditions, and the figure is likely to double in the coming months. In all the four conflict-hit Lake Chad Basin countries, food security is expected to deteriorate, if attempt are not made to redress it. This will particularly affect vulnerable displaced populations and host communities. In most of the conflict-affected areas, malnutrition rates have surpassed the emergency threshold. Throughout the region, more than half a million children are severely and acutely malnourished, of whom 75,000 could die if not urgently assisted.
Nnachi is a member of the Editorial Board of Daily Times Newspaper and can be reached via: nnachieddyugbor@gmail.com