Insecurity and the State’s Humanitarian Intervention in Northern Nigeria

Insecurity in Northern Nigeria has become hydra-headed and wide spreadas it protracts. With Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, Armed Banditry in the North West and Pastoralists’Militias in North Central notwithstanding the inundated ethno-religious violent conflict in the region, an appreciable part of the population is currently displaced thereby needing prompt humanitarian intervention. The state responds and reacts by establishment of institutional frameworks (Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, National Emergency Management Agency, North East Development Commission, State Emergency Management Agency and Military Operations) to rid the region of insecurity. Theinsecurity has caused humanitarian and complex emergencies (deaths, loss of property, internally displacement, hunger, healthcare challenges, immobility and palpable fear and anxiety to the dweller of affected areas). The methodology leverages content analysis from secondary sources. The study adopts the theory of State Failure as humanitarian intervention is a duty of the state but the Nigeria state lags. It recommends that IDPs in North Central and West should be resettled, Development Commission for North Central and West be established, more funding for Military Operations(Armed Humanitarian Intervention). It concludes that humanitarian intervention is an obligation of the state to the citizens and a justified cause