An Assessment of Policy Foundations and Implementation Effectiveness of the National Policy on Internally Displaced Persons and Humanitarian Protection in Benue State, 2021 – 2025
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Internal displacement is a growing humanitarian and human security challenge in Nigeria, and Benue State has recorded more than half a million displacements since 2018 due to recurrent farmer-herder conflict. In 2021 the Federal Government adopted the National Policy on Internally Displaced Persons (NPIDP) to provide a coordinated, rights-based framework for preventing displacement and achieving durable solutions, yet whether this normative ambition has translated into measurable outcomes at the sub-national level remains empirically underexamined. This paper examines the foundational bases of the NPIDP and assesses the extent and effectiveness of its implementation in addressing the protection, welfare, accountability and resettlement needs of IDPs in Benue State, 2021-2025, through a mixed-methods design across six Local Government Areas combining a household survey of 423 respondents (against a target of 500), 37 Key Informant Interviews and 30 Focus Group Discussions, anchored on Human Security Theory. Findings show that the NPIDP possesses a robust legal and institutional foundation, well understood by institutional stakeholders but known to most IDPs mainly through the services they receive. Implementation is uneven: food assistance reached 58.9% of respondents, yet 73.4% of recipients considered it inadequate; only 25.6% received shelter support; and only 39.1% were aware of a complaint channel, of which just 18.6% were fully or partially resolved. Durable solutions constitute the weakest dimension: 86.5% of respondents wished to return home, yet only 17.2% had received return or resettlement support and a mere 4.9% considered such programmes successful. The paper concludes that the central challenge is not the absence of an adequate policy framework but a persistent gap between policy design and implementation capacity, termed here the relief-recovery gap, and recommends stronger institutional coordination and dedicated financing, institutionalised accountability to affected populations, and the integration of humanitarian assistance with livelihood recovery within a Humanitarian-Development-Peace nexus approach
Institution: Nasarawa State University
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7220969445