SOCIAL PROTECTION AS A RESPONSE MEASURE IN ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES OF MULTIDIMENSIONAL POVERTY FACING THE INTERNALLY DISPLACE PERSONS (IDPS) IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Social protection is a broad term that covers all measures providing contributory and non-contributory benefits, whether in cash or in kind, to secure protection meant to prevent poverty and vulnerability throughout the life cycle and in relation to key identifiable social risks. while IDPs are persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border and consequent upon that faces many challenges of life such as human rights abuses, lack of access to health care services and education, difficulty in accessing legitimate means of livelihood, discrimination, documentation and identity issues,  lack of protective shelter and negligence by government. This paper therefore, using National  Social protection and National Internally Displace Policies and semi structured interview, reviews the roles of social protection in addressing the multidimensional poverty experienced by the IDPs in Nigeria and proper suggestions on the way forward such as enrolling them into States and National social register and socio-economic survey, which will made the IDPs data readily available for the government, International and National donors who wish to intervene and offers a pragmatic support to overcome some socio-economic vulnerabilities associated with forced displacement.