Displacement due to the Boko Haram insurgency has now reached almost three million in four countries -Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad – according to IOM.

According to the Nigerian government-led Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), 2,241,484 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are now living in northeast Nigeria across 13 states, in camps and host communities.

IOM has directly assisted, as of April 2016, 229,082 affected people through the provision of emergency shelter and non-food relief items (NFIs), biometric registration, camp coordination and camp management (CCCM) capacity building, psychosocial assistance and livelihood support.

In Niger, displacement figures compiled by the government and UNHCR show a total of 319,036 displaced people, 48 percent of them internally displaced 31 percent of them refugees from neighbouring countries and 21 percent of them returnees.  

Some 137,121 people in Niger have received direct assistance from IOM through shelter, NFIs, cash for work projects, community cohesion programs and income generating activities targeting youth at risk to minimize the risk of recruitment by armed groups.

Cameroon is currently hosting 270,264 displaced people, according to IOM and UNHCR. Some 63 percent are internally displaced, 24 percent are refugees and 13 percent are returnees. IOM has directly assisted 29,599 people through providing emergency shelter, NFIs and agricultural support to combat high levels of food insecurity in the country.

In Chad, IOM, WFP and UNHCR has recorded a total of 109,633 displaced people – 74 percent of them internally displaced, 15 percent refugees and 1 percent third country nationals. The number includes WFP estimates of unregistered people and rapid multi-sectoral assessments conducted by the Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) Cluster in host communities.

IOM has been directly supporting 71,368 people in Chad through various interventions, including emergency shelter, NFIs, voluntary relocation support and psychosocial support.

IOM has nine offices and sub-offices in the Lake Chad region: Nigeria (Abuja, Maiduguri, Yola and Bauchi), Niger (Diffa and Zinder), Cameroon (Maroua), and Chad (Ndjamena, and Baga Sola), with a total of 295 staff members.

IOM is co-lead of the emergency shelter, NFI and CCCM sectors or cluster/working groups in Nigeria, Niger, and Chad and implements DTM, in coordination with national governments in Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad.

IOM’s work to provide assistance to 460,000 people in the region to date has been supported by USAID/OFDA/PRM, ECHO, CERF, the European Union and the governments of Italy, France and Japan.

“But we are currently appealing for USD 25 million for urgent humanitarian assistance in the areas of shelter, NFIs, camp coordination and camp management, and psychosocial support,” said IOM Regional Director for West and Central Africa Richard Danziger.