ASSESSMENT OF COPING STRATEGIES OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS IN NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Globally, banditry, terrorism, conflicts, natural and man-made disasters, construction of development projects, human rights violation, and many others have resulted in internal displacement of many people. In Nigeria, some of these factors have affected many victims , the ajority of whom are rural farmers to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps. The study was a rapid assessment of coping strategies adopted by the IDPs in Niger State, Nigeria.The population of the study comprised all the 10,465 IDPs from the five functional IDP camps in the state. A two-stage sampling technique of simple random and convenient sampling was adopted in the selection of 400 IDP respondents. The study adopted the mixed methods approach, which comprises Focused Group Discussions and Questionnaire administration by electronic means. Multinomial Logistic Regression and descriptive statistics were used for the analysis. The study revealed that IDPs coped mainly by relying on traditional medicine, contributions from relatives and friends, stored foods, and food aid from government. The study recommended that the government should provide adequate humanitarian assistance, especially orthodox medication, to the IDPs to make their lives meaningful in camps.