Guzamala LGA - Situation Overview Borno State, Nigeria - March 2018
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Guzamala LGA - Situation Overview Borno State, Nigeria - March 2018 Map 1: Historic displacement patterns in Guzamala LGA KEY FINDINGS: • Most of Guzamala Local Government Area (LGA) in Borno State, Nigeria, has been inaccessible to humanitarian actors since 2014 when the conflict escalated. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Humanitarian Security and Access Working Group previously reported that as many as 993,000 people still live in hard to reach areas, including Guzamala LGA, however there is limited information on their needs, conditions and movement intentions. • Historic displacement out of Guzamala LGA in 2014 initially showed many households displacing locally to other nearby villages. These households would then later be secondarily displaced to locations outside of Guzamala LGA, such as Gajiram, Monguno, and Maiduguri. People took a variety of routes through Gasarwa, Gubio and Damasak towns en route to their final destinations including Maiduguri, Monguno, Gubio, and Gajiram. • Current displacement patterns in Guzamala LGA include: (1) Both primary and secondary displacement into current locations in Gajiram, Gasarwa, Ali Gambori, Mariari, Bunari and Monguno; (2) pendular displacement1 between villages of origin and nearby, larger villages within Guzamala LGA where households have displaced to; (3) long-distance pendular displacement, where internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Maiduguri are travelling back and forth between Maiduguri and their villages of origin; and (4) those IDPs starting to return to their villages of origin in Guzamala LGA. Shorter, more frequent pendular displacement reportedly occurs because people want to check on their villages or gather resources, while in pendular displacement from Maiduguri people travel to check on family and conditions, and for trade purposes. • Key Informants (KIs) reported a total of 43 villages in which households were completely displaced since December 2017, mostly from wards of Guzamala West, Kingarwa, Mairari and Wamiri. KIs also reported 88 villages with non-displaced households, with knowledge as recent as December 2017, reported in all wards though the majority of reports on villages in Guzamala West and East. • The majority of KIs from Guzamala LGA reported they would only return to their own village (71%), or another nearby village (7%), within the next three months if told it was safe by the military. FGD participants from Guzamala West and Gudumbali West stated they planned to return to their villages during the next rainy season to farm. • For households displaced within the last three months, FGD participants reported attacks by Armed Opposition Groups (AOGs) and a number of protection concerns as triggering their displacement, including killing of civilians, forced recruitment of men and boys, kidnapping of children for ransom, forced marriage, sexual assault, physical violence, theft and destruction of goods and property. • Access to water is reportedly a major challenge in Guzamala LGA. In Kingarwa, Mairari, Wamiri and Guworam wards, unprotected wells with poor water quality are reportedly peoples’ primary water source, some of which evaporates in the dry season. In Gudumbali East and West, participants reported limited water points and long queues in their villages. Furthermore, these water points are extra burdened due to the hosting of displaced households from other nearby villages. • Signs of severe iodine deficiency (swollen necks) in women and children were reported by participants from Gudumbali West and Moduri wards. INTRODUCTION Table 1: Focus Groups and Key Informants Summary Guzamala Local Government Area (LGA) in Borno State is located approximately 125 kilometres Female FGDs Number villages Male FGDs Number key reported on Guzamala Wards Represented in north of the state capital, Maiduguri. The majority of the LGA has been considered inaccessible to Study Site Total (# Total (# men) informants (recent info last FGDs humanitarian actors since intensification of the conflict in 2013, with only some villages accessible women) 3 months) along the Maiduguri-Monguno road. The International Organization for Migration Displacement Guzamala West, Gudumbali East 5 (40) 5 (36) 23 38 Tracking Matrix (IOM-DTM) reported as many as 994 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) currently Maiduguri and West, Moduri, Aduwa residing in Mairari, Ali Gambori and Bunari villages near this road as of February 20182. According Gajiram 1 (7) 1 (6) --- --- Aduwa to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Humanitarian Security and Access Working Group, there are estimated to be as many as 993,000 non-displaced individuals Gasarwa 1 (6) 1 (6) 67 25 Mairari still living within areas hard to reach by international humanitarian actors in Northeast Nigeria, Ali Gambori 1 (8) 1 (8) 49 35 Kingarwa including in Guzamala LGA3. Authorities have recently stated that the LGA capital, Gudumbali, is Mairari 1 (5) 1 (7) 116 94 Guworam likely to become accessible to humanitarian actors as soon as May 2018. Bunari 1 (8) 1 (8) 12 9 Wamiri In an effort to bridge current information gaps, REACH conducted an Area of Knowledge assessment to better understand the conditions, needs and movement intentions of those Monguno --- --- 48 28 Various currently living in and previously displaced from Guzamala LGA. Efforts were made to involve TOTAL 10 (74) 10 (71) 315 229 participants from each ward in Guzamala LGA as much as possible. Additionally, with the support of the State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (SPHCDA), a total of 315 key informants Area of Knowledge (AoK) Methodology were interviewed comprising of 76 Bulamas, 210 community members, 5 commercial drivers, 17 REACH utilized FGDs with displaced communities and interviews with key informants with recent immunization service providers, 6 civil servants and one market vendor were interviewed and information on or access to hard-to-reach areas in Guzamala LGA. FGDs were conducted from asked to report on their own village, and any other villages they had information on in Guzamala 26 February to 3 March 2018. In total, 20 FGDs were conducted, each consisting of displaced LGA. Key Informants (KIs) reported on the status of 315 villages in total in Guzamala LGA. Of persons from two villages, covering a total of 20 villages. Ten FGDs were held with Bulamas and these villages, KIs reported having recent knowledge since December 2017 on 229 villages. men from those villages, and ten with women. At least two FGDs were conducted with men and women from each ward of the 20 wards in Guzamala LGA with the exception of Guzamala East. When possible, villages were purposively selected for those still reportedly having non-displaced MOVEMENT HISTORY households. Some FGDs were conducted in Maiduguri with participants from villages displaced Previous Displacement and Routes since 2014, but who had information from community members or traders who regularly travel back and forth between Maiduguri and their villages of origin. Other FGDs were conducted with Focus Group Discussion (FGD) participants in Maiduguri and Gajiram sites from Gudumbali East, IDPs in Gajiram, Gasarwa, Ali Gambori, Mairari, and Bunari. Questions focused on displacement Gudumbali West, Moduri, Aduwa and Guzamala West wards of Guzamala LGA reported initially patterns, routes, movement intentions, and needs and conditions in both their area of origin and being displaced in 2014, and were able to describe their displacement experiences and routes current location. FGD transcripts were analysed for common themes experienced by displaced from that time. Two main patterns were observed: firstly where households would displace locally households, and for differences reported between men and women. to other nearby villages within Guzamala LGA, and secondly where households would displace KI interviews were conducted with Bulamas, community members, commercial drivers, health out of Guzamala LGA to larger towns such as Gajiram, Monguno and Maiduguri. service providers, and civil servants with knowledge of villages in Guzamala LGA, in Maiduguri, In the first displacement pattern, localized displacement, FGD participants reported being initially Gajiram, Gasarwa, Ali Gambori, Mairari, Bunari and Monguno. Questions focused on estimations displaced and moving to other nearby villages for varying lengths of time (one month to more of remaining number of displaced and non-displaced households, and movement intentions. than a year). Participants from two villages mentioned attempting to return to their villages after Analysis for displaced households focused only on those villages where all households were reported as completely displaced within the last three months prior to data collection. Whereas this first displacement, only to be later forced to flee again due to AOG attacks. In the second analysis for non-displaced households focused on villages which had recent information from displacement pattern, some participants reportedly displaced farther away from their villages of within the last three months prior to data collection. Data outside these timeframes was excluded origin to sites including Monguno, Gasarwa, Gajiram, Gubio and Maiduguri. This would occur from analysis. 2 either as a secondary displacement from villages they had stayed in close to their village of origin, Map 2: Recent movement patterns reported by FGDs and KIs within the last three months or at the time of their first displacement. prior to data