Rape In IDP Camps: It Should Never Have Happened

As if Nigeria’s battle against incompetence and administrative laxity cannot get bleaker, last week, the Human Rights Watch (HRW), an American-funded non-governmental organisation, published a damning report alleging seedy, criminal and exploitative acts in Nigeria’s Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. 

First were shocking stories of hunger and malnutrition in the camps, with both state and federal governments guilty of scandalous abandonment of displaced persons traumatised by Boko Haram. 

Now, according to HRW, policemen, soldiers and camp administrators have woven a tapestry of s*xual exploitation around the unfortunate victims of the insurgency.

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered a probe of the disturbing allegations that have numbed the world. Though HRW is unsure the probe will amount to anything, considering that the perpetrators are in control of the camps and would want to cover their atrocities, not to talk of victims who would be scared of substantiating their allegations, there is general indication that some evidence might be found to corroborate the systematic abuse that have coursed through the IDP camps in recent months.

 

The s*xploitation is mindless and should never have happened had the relevant bodies, including the federal government, run the camps competently and responsibly.

The authorities, from federal to state and down to local government, have no excuse for the disgraceful crimes that have shaken the camps. They indicate a shocking abdication of duty and a poor understanding of the relevance of IDPs. 

Above all, they also indicate an abysmal low level of leadership in Nigeria. The probe, like scores of other probes, will not unearth this deeper malaise. Nor will it correct it. 

The solution is for voters, if they can be schooled enough to deploy their power, to vote competent leaders to preside over their affairs.

Source: The Nation