Cameroonian Refugees in Cross River State, Nigeria
Girls and young women inside the room they are sleeping at a building in the local government council secretariat, Ikom, Cross River State, Nigeria on April 18, 2018.
Ojong, 18 years old who is staying in the room with her mother, sisters and cousins says,“We arrived here on December 2, 2017. At first we were in Danare I, then we relocated here. My eldest sister is 20 years old and has diabetes. It’s difficult to maintain her diet and treat her condition. We struggle to buy her insoline but have managed to obtain it for now. We need soap to wash our clothes. We sometimes do some weeding in farms so we can buy some money to buy some oil for cooking, Maggi cubes, we were given a small quantity of rice for our family. We use a bucket to defecate in and then flush it to avoid infection. I was studying history and geography in high school. I miss it a lot because I am not going to school here.”
The building is housing an estimated 270 Cameroonians who fled violence in their villages. It was opened to them to shelter in January, 2018. Many of the people sheltered in the building do not have relatives in Nigeria, hence traveling to Ikom and staying on this site. The people report being hungry and having insufficient access to toilets.
Cameroonians are being hosted in Nigerian villages, many of whom fled across the border because of reported violence inflicted by Cameroonian government security forces on civilians that are suspected of sympathizing or being actively engaged in the secession movement of Southern Cameroons from the nation of Cameroon, led by the separatists group Ambazonia . They are demanding a separate state from French speaking Cameroon. Violence reached a peak in October and November, 2017 when many of the Cameroonians interviewed in the villages between the Nigerian town of Akom and the border had fled their homes into the bush before eventually crossing over into Nigeria and seeking shelter in villages there. Two weeks previously, the Nigerian government granted registered Cameroonian individuals from the English speaking province refugee status. Once registered by UNHCR they will have freedom of movement within Nigeria for three years. With refugee status they will need to move at least 50km from the border into designated camps. As a partner of UNHCR, Caritas's role is to undertake protection monitoring; the team is conducting baseline & needs assessments within each village on a road that leads from the Nigeria/Cameroon border to the town of Atom, Nigeria. They are gathering data on demographics, gender, age of the Cameroonians that will be utilized for the upcoming distribution of food and non food items by Caritas within the villages. They also ask the civilians what their most urgent needs are, these include access to clean drinking water, food, shelter, clothing, health services and schooling for children.
Cameroonian Refugees in Cross River State, Nigeria
Girls and young women inside the room they are sleeping at a building in the local government council secretariat, Ikom, Cross River State, Nigeria on April 18, 2018.
Ojong, 18 years old who is staying in the room with her mother, sisters and cousins says,“We arrived here on December 2, 2017. At first we were in Danare I, then we relocated here. My eldest sister is 20 years old and has diabetes. It’s difficult to maintain her diet and treat her condition. We struggle to buy her insoline but have managed to obtain it for now. We need soap to wash our clothes. We sometimes do some weeding in farms so we can buy some money to buy some oil for cooking, Maggi cubes, we were given a small quantity of rice for our family. We use a bucket to defecate in and then flush it to avoid infection. I was studying history and geography in high school. I miss it a lot because I am not going to school here.”
The building is housing an estimated 270 Cameroonians who fled violence in their villages. It was opened to them to shelter in January, 2018. Many of the people sheltered in the building do not have relatives in Nigeria, hence traveling to Ikom and staying on this site. The people report being hungry and having insufficient access to toilets.
Cameroonians are being hosted in Nigerian villages, many of whom fled across the border because of reported violence inflicted by Cameroonian government security forces on civilians that are suspected of sympathizing or being actively engaged in the secession movement of Southern Cameroons from the nation of Cameroon, led by the separatists group Ambazonia . They are demanding a separate state from French speaking Cameroon. Violence reached a peak in October and November, 2017 when many of the Cameroonians interviewed in the villages between the Nigerian town of Akom and the border had fled their homes into the bush before eventually crossing over into Nigeria and seeking shelter in villages there. Two weeks previously, the Nigerian government granted registered Cameroonian individuals from the English speaking province refugee status. Once registered by UNHCR they will have freedom of movement within Nigeria for three years. With refugee status they will need to move at least 50km from the border into designated camps. As a partner of UNHCR, Caritas's role is to undertake protection monitoring; the team is conducting baseline & needs assessments within each village on a road that leads from the Nigeria/Cameroon border to the town of Atom, Nigeria. They are gathering data on demographics, gender, age of the Cameroonians that will be utilized for the upcoming distribution of food and non food items by Caritas within the villages. They also ask the civilians what their most urgent needs are, these include access to clean drinking water, food, shelter, clothing, health services and schooling for children.