iAfrica

Be Smart About South Africa

Refugees in Nigeria are Extremely Vulnerable to Coronavirus

More than 2.4 million people have been displaced by the decade long Boko Haram insurgency and many live in informal settlements in host communities as well as in government-regulated camps across northeast Nigeria. There are also IDPs fleeing a kidnapping scourge and the pastoralist conflicts between herdsmen and farmers in the northwest and central regions. In addition, a lingering crisis over the past three years between separatist fighters in Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions and government security agencies has sent citizens scrambling into nearby Nigeria. So far, Nigeria has had only twelve confirmed coronavirus cases. Rounds of testing have been conducted at its airports, but Africa’s most populous country is notorious for its porous land and sea borders. Nigeria, Niger and Chad have not yet locked down their borders.

SOURCE: OZY

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