Introduction

Internal displacement in Nigeria is a recurring and large-scale phenomenon. Most parts of the 36 states have seen many waves of displacement, both small and large- scale. It is a situation caused essentially by conflict, generalized violence, insurgencies, human right violations and natural disasters, whereby members of the affected community are forced to leave their homes and seek refuge in neighboring communities or states.¹ Research reveals that Nigeria accounts for more than one million out of Africa’s nine million people internally displaced from their homes due to armed conflict and generalized violence in 2011. This figure however excludes the millions of persons displaced within their own countries due  to natural disasters and development projects.²
In Nigeria and elsewhere in the world, the affected populations have been categorized as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Internally Displaced Persons are the most vulnerable population for obvious reasons, such as loss of their