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New report chronicles Nigeria migration

A new report by the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, DC offers a broad analysis of the internal migration and cross-border trends affecting Nigeria.  Entitled “Nigeria: Multiple Forms of Mobility in Africa’s Demographic Giant,” the report gives a historical overview of the major post-independence trends, ranging from unsettled claims from the Biafran Civil War to current problems raised by human trafficking and the significant displacement triggered by the expansion of Shari’a in the northern states starting after the transition to democracy in 1999.

During a trip to Nigeria in 2008, I was struck by the first billboard I saw on the airport road in Abuja, highlighting the problem of human trafficking. According to government agencies, at least 10,000 people are trafficked from Nigeria each year.  The report also mentions how the state of Akwa Ibom in particular is apparently source for people eventually forced into domestic servitude.

Religious violence in Plateau and Kaduna states regularly gets international attention.  The Biafran question, by contrast, remains one of at least three migration issues lurking in the background though.  A prominent Igbo politician told me during a 2006 interview that compensation for property seized during the war remains a source of great resentment in the southeast; many cases are still stuck in the courts.  Worse, he said, the ruling People’s Democratic Party has neglected the issue entirely, and he further complained about under-representation of the east in the Federal government’s civil service and military ranks (which has possibly been addressed a bit more since then).

Second, like the human rights report I co-authored with Patrick Ukata, the MPI report also mentions the problem of discrimination against people from other states.  Discrimination against Nigerians treated as “strangers” in their own country is behind much of the recent violence in Plateau – the religious overtones were present but arguably shallow by causal comparison.  For an interesting theoretical framework for these issues, check out David Laitin’s classic Culture and Hegemony.

A third issue not discussed in the report, but one which will may become another flash point in the near future, is the displacement of people who migrated to Abuja, especially after the democratic transition.  Tens of thousands of people were displaced first during beautification campaigns (my favorite bars in Zone 4 are gone, and my favorite bukkas in Wuse 2 were destroyed to make way for Bill Clinton’s visit in 2000).    More recently demolitions have been part of efforts to ensure that the city of Abuja conforms as much as possible to its original plan. I am working to obtain funding for a collaborative research project with the University of Ibadan in the summer of 2011 to interview those affected – and those profiting from this destruction.   I took this picture (below) near Idu in March 2010.  During meetings with Ibgo self-help organizations, members told me stories of how they rented property from chiefs belonging Abuja’s indigenes, then when their homes and businesses were destroyed by the government’s Ministry for the Federal Capital Territory, the migrants discovered they had no recourse because either the chiefs did not have the authority to rent to them in the first place, or their properties did not have building permits.

Resentment is building, and it is impossible for these working class families to afford housing within the city itself; traffic was non-existent when I lived in Abuja and now it takes upwards of an hour to commute into the city each morning for most of the people who clean the floors and answer the phones.  Thanks to MPI for providing excellent background on migration issues generally, and I hope to provide more insights into the Abuja question after I have had a chance to do more research in the city’s informal settlements.

July 4, 2010   Posted in: .

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• FEATURED PAPER: “The Political Economy of African Responses to the U.S. Africa Command”

  The United States unveiled a consolidated military command for Africa in 2007. The Department of Defense (DOD) attributed the largely negative African reactions to a public relations failure, but contradictory statements continued even after DOD acknowledged its blunders. I test a political economy explanation for African reactions using a content analysis of over 500 African print and radio news sources. Test results show that support for the Command corresponded with greater aid dependence, and that countries sustaining high levels of growth with less foreign aid were more critical of the Command. The findings suggest that good economic performance increases the latitude African countries have when responding to U.S. policy leverage.

  (Read the article in the AFRICA TODAY, fall 2010 issue)