Nigeria and Lake Chad Basin Semi-Annual Report (October 2020 - March 2021)

In response to U.S foreign policy objectives, the program pivoted in September 2020 to focus on community resilience and support for conflict prevention mechanisms in the Middle Belt with activities in Kaduna and Plateau states. The program has two cluster-level objectives: 1) Improving community security and recovery of livelihoods; 2) Improving the ability of vulnerable individuals and communities to represent their interests and promote peaceful resolution of conflict. This report highlights program activities from October 2020 to March 2021. During the reporting period, Nigeria experienced an increase in insecurity and grappled with persistent issues like economic inflation, a second wave of COVID-19, and poor governance. In October 2020, a nationwide anti-Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) protest broke out over the failure of the government to end the notoriously brutal police unit accused of disappearances, injuries, and killings. The police unit was subsequently disbanded, but the government faced criticism of how the events were handled. In the Middle Belt, large-scale abduction, particularly of school students, became a more pronounced trend during the reporting period. In Plateau and Kaduna states, there were attacks that seemed intent on dislodging residents, with 76 and 84 villages sacked, respectively. The recent period has witnessed more targeting of those who have vocally opposed violence and banditry, including an incident where 5 Fulani Ardos were assassinated in Plateau State for opposing violence. The security situation continued to be unpredictable, with flare-ups of intracommunal conflict and attacks by bandits impacting security across wide swaths of the Middle Belt. On February 6, the Kujeni community in southern Kaduna was attacked, driving out community members and destroying homes. As a result, the program suspended an activity in Kujene that was working to help people return by improving community security through the provision of solar streetlights and housing materials. The program learned several critical lessons during the period under review, including the importance of incorporating women into Early Warning Early Response (EWER) activities and security, as these activities are often seen as the domain of men. The program also found that supporting grassroots initiatives to promote peace at the community level can improve results, as these initiatives are perceived as legitimate by the communities. The program implemented a total of 232 activities from its inception to March 31, 2021, with 202 of these activities now closed. Under the cluster focused on improving community security and the recovery of livelihoods, the program cleared 12 activities, including a rapid needs assessment of Bassa and Mangu LGAs in Plateau state to ascertain the drivers and manifestations of conflict within the LGAs. The activities under this cluster provided support to increase community security in Kajuru, Jema’a, and Chikun LGAs by establishing streetlights to increase visibility throughout vulnerable communities, particularly around porous entry points, and reinforced those entry points with concertina wiring to deter attackers from entering these communities. These communities were also provided with boreholes to supply the communities with reliable and consistent sources of water, reducing the risk of women and girls being forced to leave the relative safety of their communities to fetch water.