Strengthening Community Resilience

The North-East zone is the poorest zone in Nigeria. Its average absolute poverty rate of 69.0% is above the national average of 60.9%. Access to education in the zone is particularly severe with over 44% of school-age children out of school. This is higher than the national average of about 26%. The situation has become worse since 2009 when the activities of Boko Haram assumed a violent dimension that has claimed between 20,000 and 30,000 lives and displaced about 2.6 million people (Onuoha and Oyewole, 2018). As of April 2017, Boko Haram had destroyed properties worth over N1.9 billion (US$5.2 billion). This destruction includes over 1 million homes and 5,000 classrooms (Onuoha and Oyewole, op.cit).

This destruction of major economic and social infrastructures in the zone has resulted in significant disruption of daily lives in affected communities and has prompted various interventions such as the North East Development Commission (NEDC) and Victim Support Fund aimed at dealing with the impact. As admirable and well-intentioned as these interventions, they are insufficient to ensure stability and prosperity in the affected communities. There is a need to strengthen the resilience capacities of communities in the region.

This edition of Nextier SPD Weekly examines the imperative of strengthening community resilience capacities in ensuring peace, security, and development in the North East region of Nigeria.

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