Nigeria: Violence and widespread displacement leave Benue facing a humanitarian disaster
As of 31 December 2024, an estimated 500,182 people had fled to IDPs camps in Benue state to escape years of attacks by gunmen
- At least 510,182 internally displaced people (IDPs) across Benue state
- Dire conditions in IDP camps
- Children and pregnant women amongst most vulnerable
The Nigerian authorities must take urgent steps to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in the central state of Benue where attacks by gunmen have displaced at least 500,000 people, many of whom are languishing in squalid camps without access to sufficient water, poor sanitation, food and healthcare, Amnesty International said today.
In the most recent attack on 14 June, gunmen raided the town of Yelewata, killing more than 100 people and forcing over 3,941 more to flee their homes. The smell of decomposing bodies hung in the air during a visit to the affected community by Amnesty International in the aftermath of the attacks. Signs of the recent violence were unmistakable with bullet shells littering the ground, and mass graves that had been newly dug to bury the dead.
Survivors were seen carrying bags of grain, bundles of firewood and other household items as they sought safety and shelter in camps for internally displaced persons (IDP). According to interviews with IDPs in Gwer West, Agatu, Ukum, Kwande, Logo, Guma and Makurdi IDP camps, as well as a makeshift IDP camp at Makurdi Modern Market, communities who come under attack are often left to fend for themselves with security forces only arriving long after the gunmen had left.
“The Nigerian authorities have failed the people of Benue state again and again. Rampant attacks by gunmen have deprived thousands of people of their rights to life, physical integrity, liberty, freedom of movement and access to livelihoods. Survivors of these harrowing attacks face the fresh torment of being displaced in overcrowded, unhygienic camps where disease runs rampant and essentials such as food and clean water are scarce,” said Isa Sanusi, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.
“The situation risks creating a humanitarian disaster, which the authorities must urgently address by ensuring that people’s essential needs are met by providing desperately needed aid.”
Besides interviews with IDPs, Amnesty International also spoke to camps officials, medical workers and non-governmental organizations in the affected areas. It found that communities across Benue state, including Gwer West, Gwer-East, Agatu, Apa, Ukum, Kwande, Logo,and Guma, continue to face a brutal pattern of violence.
This is typically unleashed at night, although daytime attacks also occur, with gunmen systematically overrunning villages, using firearms to carry out indiscriminate or targeted killings from a distance. This is accompanied by brutal close-range violence with machetes and knives used to inflict grievous injuries, including hand amputations.
Misery of the IDP camps
As of 31 December 2024, an estimated 500,182 people had fled to IDPs camps in Benue state to escape years of attacks by gunmen. More than 10,000 additional people have been displaced since the start of 2025 following attacks on communities in Gwer West, Agatu, Ukum (Gbagir), Kwande (Anwase), Logo, and Guma (Yelewata, Agan, and Gbajimba), among others.
Amnesty International’s visits to IDP camps reveal wholly inadequate shelter, exposing IDPs to harsh weather, overcrowding, and heightened risks of disease, as well as gender-based violence, including rape and domestic violence.
Access to healthcare is also a major challenge in the IDP camps with a lack of treatment for the most common diseases and ailments, such as malaria, typhoid, and stomach ulcers. According to a camp official, births occur almost daily in the IDP camps, with many pregnant women requiring medical attention but also contracting infections because of inadequate hygiene facilities.
An IDP told Amnesty International: “If we don’t get drugs, we just sit and watch the sick person helplessly.”
Many children are unable to exercise their right to an education in the camps.
“Our children no longer go to school and there are no arrangements by the authorities to teach children in the IDP camp. The government should bring an end to insecurity in our local government area and Benue state. Before that, provide us with food and proper shelter at the IDP camps,” an IDP told Amnesty International.
A camp official told Amnesty International that a makeshift school built in one of the camps had been shut down for over three years because camp authorities could not continue paying ad-hoc teachers their stipends.
There are hundreds of minors who fled their homes due to attacks and now live without parental care. The children were separated from their families while fleeing attacks on their villages and communities. The authorities have been unable to provide these vulnerable children with a safe place to live and essential services. Two female IDPs told Amnesty International:
“When we arrived, they [my children] left. I do not know where they have gone. I can’t speak with them; I don’t have a phone….I have 8 children and because we do not have enough space here in the IDP camp, many of them have left me and I do not know where they are.”
Amnesty International is calling on the Nigerian authorities to take immediate steps to provide sufficient and accessible humanitarian support to the survivors of these attacks. Authorities must take steps to domesticate and effectively implement the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons within the country’s legal system.
“The authorities’ persistent failure to hold suspected perpetrators to account is fueling a cycle of impunity that is making everyone feel unsafe. Authorities must now end the growing culture of impunity for these attacks.”
“We call on the authorities to ensure that all people displaced because of the attacks in Benue state are provided with adequate relief, including protection, shelter, food, clean water, sanitation and healthcare. Authorities must ensure that all people who have suffered losses from the crisis are also provided with adequate compensation,” said Isa Sanusi.
Background
Amnesty International Nigeria has been monitoring the escalating bandit attacks and clashes between herders and farmers in Benue state since 2016. In 2020, the organization investigated the authorities’ failure to protect rural communities from attacks, and in 2025, it investigated the mounting death toll and looming humanitarian crisis amid unchecked attacks by armed groups.
Nigeria is state party to a number of treaties that guarantee the human rights of everybody in the country regardless of the circumstances. This includes the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights which requires Nigerian authorities to ensure equal access to amongst others the rights to housing, health, food, water, sanitation and education.
