Rural banditry and the vulnerable: Managing the internally displaced persons’ camps in Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

Women, children, the aged, and the physically challenged, among others, constitute the vulnerable population in every society but are usually catered for in crisis-ridden situations by the leadership of developed nations, contrary to what obtains in Nigeria, consequent upon rural banditry attacks. This paper investigated how leadership’s attitude to banditry attacks on rural communities in Benue State, Nigeria, has rendered the vulnerable miserable with the manner in which the various Internally Displaced Persons' Camps (IDPCs) have been established to give relief to the victims. It adopted a descriptive research method, extracted data using secondary sources of data collection, and used Emergency Management Theory (EMT) to explain the paper. It reveals that before the escalation of rural banditry in Benue State, women, children, and the physically challenged were carrying out their various agricultural practices and other personal businesses without any hindrance. It observed that people appeared to have been merely protected by the efforts of their various family members and their various communities. It argued further that bandits’ attacks on these rural communities created an upheaval in the environment, bringing about looting, kidnapping, maiming, and loss of lives and property of serious magnitude. The deadly attacks on these various communities, their desertion, and the displacement of family members led to a humanitarian crisis of multiple dimensions. The need to take care of the vulnerable population by the government led to the setting up of Internally Displaced Persons’ Camps (IDPCs). The paper concluded that these IDPCs are poorly managed and characterized by corruption and negligence, among others. It is recommended that security in rural communities be beefed up to forestall further bandits' attacks, while the IDPCs should be properly protected, funded, and better managed.