Since the declaration of state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states in May, 2013 by the Federal Government of Nigeria, people affected by the insurgency have been receiving different kinds of relief aid in form of humanitarian assistance from donor agencies through United Nation (UN) agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) both National and International as well as multinational companies and individual philanthropists. The protracted insurgency in the Northeast Nigeria has left over 7.1 million people in serious need of humanitarian assistances across the most affected states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa living 1.8 million people as internally displaced (Nigeria Humanitarian Response Strategy, 2018). To date, there still remain a number of villages, communities and local government areas (LGAs) that are still inaccessible forboth civilians and humanitarian aid workers due to the presence of the insurgents and ongoing military operations. High levels of displacement, including secondary and tertiary displacement, have been witnessed in major centers, including those from inaccessible areas, with the majority of new arrivals in dire conditions and in need of urgent, life-saving humanitarian assistance and protection interventions. The crisis is agued to have become prolonged due to the transformation of the insurgency into multinational dimension which made it difficult for the Nigerian government to address it effectively (Gilbert, 2014).

 

Borno State is the most affected state by the insurgency where all the local government areas were with the exception of three captured/taken over by the Boko Haram fighters for more than a period of three months. Till date, several villages and communities are inaccessible to civilians due to the activities of the insurgents and the accelerated military operations. Many people from these areas have lost their properties and are living in internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps, others are embedded in some other communities while others have completely relocated from the state. It is estimated that civilian infrastructures worth US$9.2 billion were destroyed and accumulated output loss US$8.3 billion as a result of the insurgency in the northeast with Borno state taking the hardest hit (Nigeria Humanitarian Response Strategy, 2018). The Nigeria Humanitarian Response Strategy (2018) aptly noted that Northeast Nigeria was already plagued with high levels of poverty, inequalities, including gender, underdevelopment, unemployment, poor governance, political marginalization, weak justice systems and ecological degradation prior to the beginning of the insurgency in 2009. However, Borno as a state before the insurgency was one of the major business centers of Northeast Nigeria with the advantage of being a border state with Chad, Niger and Cameroon. It was experiencing relatively good economic growth with well-established growing small and medium scale enterprises through transnational trade and a good connection with the commercial city of Kano state. But this growth has been completely halted with a steep decline in development following the continued destruction of lives and properties by the insurgency which has left a large population in dire need.

 

Hinds (2015) affirmed the existence of relationship between humanitarian and development aids but insisted that various approaches are required to understand this relationship. Hendrickson (1998) argued that as much as the core humanitarian values of promoting human welfare and alleviating suffering remain as valid today as ever, the image of the humanitarian system carries these values at the global level has been tarnished. He added that this contributes to the reasons why the humanitarian system is highly criticized with many allegations of exacerbating wars for prolong aid which is also the reasons why humanitarian assistance being provided are largely inadequate and many international donor agencies turn their back on suffering people. This is implies that where the humanitarian assistance is effective, the long-term political measures and development assistance required to prevent populations sliding back into crisis conditions are often not forthcoming. This has informed this work to ensure that Borno state is moved out of the woos and understand what lays ahead of the protracted humanitarian assistance for better planning. It has been acclaimed by the Nigeria Humanitarian Response Strategy (2018) that high levels of poverty, inequalities, including gender, underdevelopment, unemployment, poor governance, political marginalization, weak justice systems and ecological degradation prior to 2009 were the underlying causes of the insurgency. Hence, the need to address those issues to prevent the recurring of the crisis. However, Imhonopi and Urim (2016) opine that the insurgency also directly impacts on the development of the state especially with the large security vote allocated to counterinsurgency while lamenting the necessity of addressing the insecurity as security is prerequisite to development of the country.

 

Problem statement

 

The continued attacks and havoc on the people and their properties by the insurgent groups has kept the largest workforce/population of the state unproductive and dependent on humanitarian aid for survival (Nigeria Humanitarian Response Strategy, 2018). “In many areas across Borno State, market and trade routes continue to be disrupted as a result of insecurity and impassable roads during the rainy season. These, and other existing bans on fish trade and restrictions on purchasing fertilizers, impact negatively on trade flows and activities”. According to Nigeria Humanitarian Response Strategy (2018), this has also stopped commercial activities in many parts of the state while reducing the same in the Metropolitan city of Maiduguri where many business owners and investors have vacated for safety of their lives and properties. Thus, continued reliance on humanitarian aid by the workforce population, destruction of lives and properties, migration of business/withdrawals of investors, stoppage of commercial activities in many locations in the state and the protracted activities of the insurgents are considered as issues of great concern to the future development of the state.

 

The restrictive movement impairs the ability of the affected population to engage in livelihood and income generating activities. World Food Programme (WFP, 2018) reported that 39% of IDPs households in Borno State have no access to farmland. The report of joint assessment carried out by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and World Food Programme (WFP) in 2018 on safe access to fuel and energy showed that the security situation also impacts on access to fuel and energy for cooking food. The report says that 85 percent of women and girls interviewed responded to heightened protection risks when collecting firewood from the bushes around their communities. These security risks are both fear of attack and abduction by the Boko Haram insurgent groups which were reported in the past and the risk of explosive remnant of war and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) trap laid by the insurgent groups targeting the military convoy.

 

Definition of terms

 

Humanitarian aid refers to actions undertaken by organization or organizations that are intended to alleviate extensive human suffering within the borders of a sovereign state. It can be defined as the assistance provided for the purposes of saving lives, alleviating suffering and upholding human dignity during and after crisis or natural disaster and to prevent occurrence as well as equip the people to withstand future occurrence. Humanitarian aid is guided by key humanitarian principles; humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence as affirmed by UN General Assembly resolution and enshrined in numerous humanitarian standards and guidelines (Global Humanitarian Assistance, 2019). It is also referred to as Humanitarian Assistance, Relief Aid, Emergency Relief or Emergency Aid. Humanitarian aid differs from development aid as stated by Dieci (2006) “Saving the lives of people exposed to immediate risks due to natural or manmade disasters is the ultimate goal of any relief intervention. Development strategies aim at introducing structural changes in a given context. He added that these two kinds of intervention often require specific skills, approaches and, most of all, specific timings”. The processes that lead to changes in the living standard, infrastructural, human capital and economic of a place or improvement in the socio-economic, environmental and political growth of the country of a place is considered as development. Whereas, development aid is the financial support given to a country or place to support the process of its growth economically, socially, politically and to enhance environmental sustainability. By August 2019, an approximated sum of US$2.23 billion were spent in providing relief support to the affected population in Northeast according to Financial Tracking Services (FTS) of United Nation Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) (2019). Yet there are many vulnerable individuals and groups in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Since the commencement of full humanitarian assistance to the people affected by the insurgency in the Northeast Nigeria in 2014, 47 different International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGO) and over 180 joint Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Faith Based Organizations (FBOs) and Community Based Organizations (CBOs) as well as UN agencies and International Committee of Red Cross have provided different forms of humanitarian aids to the affected populations in the Northeast Nigeria in addition to multinational companies and individual philanthropies.

 

The concept of conflict lacks universally accepted definitions as such many scholars define conflict in different ways. Rakhim (2010) defines conflict as an interactive process manifested in incompatibility, disagreement or dissonance within or between social entities. It may be limited to an individual as intrapersonal conflict. Nicholson and Michael (1992) defines conflict as an activity which takes place when conscious beings (individuals or groups) wish to carry out mutually inconsistent acts concerning their wants, needs or obligations. He added that it is an escalation of a disagreement, which is its common prerequisite, and is characterized by the existence of conflict behavior, in which the beings are actively trying to damage one another. Conflict is defined as a clash between individuals arising out of a difference in thought process, attitudes, understanding, interests, requirements and even sometimes perceptions (Juneja, 2019). It results in heated arguments, physical abuses and definitely loss of peace and harmony. Hence, Conflict can be described as any form of friction, disagreement, or discord that arises within or between a group when the beliefs or actions of one or more members of the group are either resisted by or unacceptable to one or more members of another group. Therefore, the ideology of Boko Haram which considers western education as a taboo or sin and their outright rejection of the National constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is in total discord with what the stand of the government of the country Nigeria hence, the conflict.

 

Conflict distorts the normal social, economic and political pattern of a society and introduces a new way of living. In a protracted conflict like the case of Northeast Nigeria and indeed Borno state, the way of life of the people is completely changed with the introduction of survival strategies that emanate as social vices and uncivilized. The live of dependency on aid for survival, the live of confinement to camp as internally displaced persons, lack of access to basic services, living in an ungoverned space, inaccessibility to civil and legal system among others are characterized by the days of conflict. Post conflict as it implies may seems so simply to define from the concept of war/violent crisis and peace but very complex to define in real practice. Frere and Wilen (2015) highlighted three important issues with definition of post conflict; it does not mean end of war; it has political consequences; and it does not define the typology of the conflict that is over. Therefore, they opine that post conflict should be defined from a process-oriented approach as transition continuum with different milestone. Hence, this study considers post conflict as process which begins with seizes fire agreement between the Boko haram insurgent group and the Nigeria government and indeed Lake Chad region multinational arm forces.

 

Since the hope of return of peace and normalcy in Borno state even amidst the protracted insurgency and humanitarian responses is not totally lost and is being gradually achieved. It is essential to set in place plans and strategy towards rebuilding the state and restore it to the path of development. These informed this research to assess the impact of the ongoing humanitarian aid on the development of the state in the post conflict era with a view of identifying the opportunities in humanitarian aid that can foster development.

In anticipation of the return to peace and normalcy in Northeast and Borno state, it is thoughtful to start viewing and strategizing towards development of the state beyond the long-term impact of the insurgency as much is being done to save lives, alleviate suffering and maintain the dignity of human lives through humanitarian aid. Branczik (2004) insisted that the key part of peace accord in the aftermath of war is external development assistance to reconstruct a country’s infrastructure, institution and economy. This requires; reconstruction of properties and infrastructures, transition to normal security conditions, a functional judiciary to enforce the rule of law, governance and government services, democratization, economic development and local capacity building (Branczik, 2004).

 

Borno State conflict context

 

Since the creation of Borno State in Northeast Nigeria in 1976 with the capital in Maiduguri, the state has experienced a series of crises before the advent of Boko Haram insurgency in 2009 which has caused serious chaos in the Northeast region, the entire country Nigeria and also draws the attention of the international community. The region has witnessed a series of religious crises starting from the Maitatsine crisis in the 1980s which affected Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno and Kano state followed by different religious based crises especially in Bauchi, Borno, Kano, and Yobe state between the 1980s to 2002. The current Boko Haram is historically traced back to a formally reorganized group called Shabaab Muslim Youth Organization since 1995 led by Mallam Lawal who handed the leadership to Mohammed Yusuf when he left Nigeria to pursue his education in Saudi Arabia (Ekanem et al., 2012). Under the leadership of Mohammed Yusuf, the group was alleged to have been opened to political influence and popularity which is built on his open teachings against western education which is the stage of metamorphoses into Boko Haram with the aim of establishing Sharia government in Borno and neighboring states (Gilbert, 2014). Since inception of the Mohammed Yusuf leadership, series of religious based violence were witnessed in the state and the region especially between the years 2004 to 2010 until the full-boom insurgency. Yusuf was very critical of the government and involved in official effort to introduce Sharia in several Northern states in the year 2000s (CGAR, 2014). Although from the outset the group mission was to impose Sharia on Nigeria, Mohammed Yusuf preaching and interpretation of the Quran as a recipe for violence and an affront to constituted authority (Anyadike, 2013). The deaths of Mohammed Yusuf in Nigeria Police Force custody as well as his father in-law Ustaz Buji Foi who finance the group and the incarceration of members of the group by state authorities lead to the birth of the highly violent Boko Haram group under the new leadership of Abubakar Shekau (Awortu, 2015). Awortu (2015) aptly noted that “Yusuf adopted a non-violent approach in his campaign but hoped to achieve his objectives through constant preaching in Mosque and forming alliances with politicians especially Sheriff Lawal '' unlike Abubakar Shekau.

 

Abubakar Shekau and Khalid Al-Barnawi led Boko Haram cashed in to the failure of the government to provide basic welfare schemes to the citizens, poverty and joblessness among youth as a tool of recruiting their membership in addition to refugees from the wars over the border in Chad. They exploited these gaps as a strategy of providing welfare package to their membership such as food, money and employment to attract youths to join them and buy into their fundamentalist Islamic viewpoint of societal organization as a preference and more profitable to the western capitalist mode of production being adopted by the country Nigeria which is not beneficial to the youth (Awortu, 2015). At this stage, they drive operational fund from wealthy businessmen and politicians both from within and outside Nigeria which help them to succeed in recruiting more youths as fighters and suicide bomber who uses of lethal weapons such as: rocket propelled grenades (RPGs), anti-tank missiles, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), surface-to-air missiles, armoured tanks, A-K 47 assault rifles, as well as machetes and daggers for the purpose of meting out mayhem to the Nigerian state, which have adversely affected her economy considering the high rate of loss of lives and properties (Awortu, 2015; Gilbert, 2014).

 

The brutal leadership of Abubakar Shekau institutionalized the group into an insurgent group named Jamatu Ahli Al-Sunna lil Da’wa Wal Jihad (JAS) which metamorphoses into Jama’at Ansari Al-Muslimin fi Bilad Al-Sudan (Ansaru) as a result of leadership tussle between Abubakar Shekau and his lieutenants Khalid Al- Barnawi and Mamman Nur due to their affiliation with the leadership of Al-Qaida who later distanced itself from JAS (Ahmed, 2018). After reuniting of Abubakar Shekau with the Ansaru group, he pledging allegiance to Islamic State (IS) which lead to the emergence of the new name Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) but his leadership couldn’t last long because of the confirmation of the IS leadership’s (Al-Baghdadi) doubts about his “despotic character, ideological extremism or “Guluw”, and his poor operational skills” as reported by his lieutenants Abu Musab Al-Barnawi and Mamman Nur which brought the former in to the leadership (Ahmed, 2018). This leads to the split of the group and the return of Abubakar Shekau led group to the previous name JAS. The group is characterized by ruthless and indiscriminate attacks on both civilian population and the military while Abu Musab Al-Barnawi led ISWAP group are known for “sophisticated, organized and large-scale attacks on military camps and oil exploration sites” according to Ahmed (2018).

 

Concept of prolong conflict in Borno

 

The concept of Prolong conflict as described by Wikipedia, technically refers to “Protracted Social Conflict” as opined by a theory developed by Edward Azar. Protracted Social Conflict is the “hostile interactions between communal groups that are based in deep-seated racial, ethnic, religious and cultural hatreds, and that persist over long periods of time with sporadic outbreaks of violence; when a group's identity is threatened or frustrated, intractable conflict is almost inevitable” Wikipedia. Considering the Boko Haram insurgency in this context, prolong conflict is the long period of over 10 years’ violence attacks of Boko Haram insurgents on the military and civilian population as a result of ideology discord and the desire to establish a caliphate state.

 

The Boko Haram insurgency started with simple attack on schools, Christian groups and churches, to attacks on security personnel, government and United Nations facilities, Mosques and all civilian populations who do not buy into their ideology using small and light weapons and improvised explosive devises (IED). But now the group has built strong military forces with sophisticate weapons and military strategies as evident in the series of video messages from the insurgents group on Youtube. The group has executed series of well schemed attacks using qualitative military hardware as allegedly reported by military personnel and confirmed by some videos released by the group which show the might of the force they have built over the decade of their operation in the region. Gilbert (2014) opine that “the dexterity, sophistication and fluidity of Boko Haram within the North East geopolitical zone coupled with its prolonged confrontation with the Nigerian state as the sole legitimate monopolist of the instruments of force and violence has apparently, conferred the toga of invincibility on the group”. This can be linked with the series of transformation the group has underwent over this period especially with their alignment with international terror groups such as Al-Qaida and IS who are believed to be providing support to the group (Ahmed, 2018). The prolong conflict has been reported to have claimed more than 27,000 lives with hundreds of women and girls in abduction, 146 children (mainly girls) forced to carry person borne improvised explosive device (PBIED) with 46 children used for the attack between January to September 2018 only according to (Nigeria Humanitarian Response Strategy, 2018). The strategy further reported an estimated civilian infrastructural and asset damage of worth US $ 9.2 million and output losses of US $ 8.3 million since the inception of the crisis with the highest impact in Borno state in addition to the various levels of displacement; primary, secondary and tertiary witnessed by civilian population to major local government and city centres in the Northeast. The situation has forced many people away from their homes and sources of livelihood; farming, fishing among others with 1,483,566 persons displaced in Borno state according to the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) Round XXIX (November 2019). Although military has continuously claimed to have liberated all local government from the captivity of the insurgents, many are limited to the garrison towns without access to their original homes and sources of livelihood with the highest population living wholly dependent on humanitarian aids with 7.1 million people in dire need of humanitarian aid across Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states of the Northeast (Nigeria Humanitarian Response Strategy, 2018). This has been the case since the declaration of full state of emergency in northeast especially Borno state which is of high concern to all and sundry.

 

Efforts to restore peace in the region cannot be discussed without mentioning the steps taken by the previous administration of Goodluck Jonathan after a series of military responses to the consideration of amnesty for the insurgent groups after a series of clamour by Northern leaders including the Sultan of Sokoto among others. On Thursday, April 7, 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan approved the setting of an Amnesty committee for Boko Haram but the leadership of the insurgent group outrightly rejected the offers and made fun of the initiative and rather chooses to increase attacks. Similar approach was repeated by President Mohammadu Buhari who declared his intention to grant amnesty to repented Boko Haram fighters (The Guardian, 2018) which was implemented in the re-integration of more than 1000 ex-Boko Haram fighters in according to Prager and Adamu (2019). However, these efforts were met with great criticisms from Nigerians especially among those who seek to understand why the government would reward killers with freedom and funds, and those who are of the opinion that such gesture will breed room for the advent of more criminal and terrorist groups while others insisted that faceless people cannot be granted amnesty. But this still happens under the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programmes of the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) partnership with the government which has brought some levels of skepticism among the people of Borno.

 

On the other hand, Nigeria government has continued to claim that Boko Haram has been technically defeated even when the group could still launch attacks and kill up to 86 persons at a single attack as reported by Punch Newspaper online February 6, 2016. However, the term “technically defeated” remains unclear as the government claims that they have liberated all local governments under the captivity of the insurgents. But the term liberated is also arguable since displaced populations still have no access to their homes/villages rather they are clustered within the sanctuary/garrison locations mostly local government centers. The military has launched a series of operations ranging from “Operation Lafiya Dole” to “Operation Last Hold” to “Operation Positive Identity” among other operations. Yet the insurgents have consistently attacked both the military bases and civilian populace in the local government areas and most recently the persistent attacks on the Maiduguri – Damaturu road which further instill fear among the civilians as reported by Daily Trust on 12^th February, 2020. These attacks might likely be attributed to continued changes in the military strategies especially the recent super camp strategy that withdrew all military bases to a fewer number of camps called “Super Camp”.

 

Concept of humanitarian aid

 

Humanitarian aid is defined as the assistance provided for the purposes of saving lives, alleviating suffering and upholding human dignity during and after crisis or natural disaster and to prevent occurrence as well as equip the people to withstand future occurrence. It is an assistance given to solve the immediate need of the population affected by disaster either man-made or natural. This assistance is meant to be for a short-term before a longer-term aid can be provided by the government. DuBois (2018) describes humanitarian aid as “a set of short-term programme methodologies and an operational objective to meet the urgent needs of people, as opposed to building systems that will, over a longer course of time, meet those same needs (that is, development, resilience etc.)”. The aid is provided on a basis of protection principles which support the rights outlined in humanitarian charter as the right to life with dignity, the right to humanitarian assistance and the right to protection and security (Sphere Association, 2018). The concept of humanitarian aid is geared towards ensuring that no human being is sacrificed for a purpose as pointed by Albert Schweitzer ``Humanitarianism consists in never sacrificing a human being to a purpose”. This means that the dignity of life and the respect deserved by human beings must be protected at all courses in humanitarian response or actions. This informed the key principles on which humanitarian aid operated. The international humanitarian law is fundamental because all people affected by the crisis have a right to receive protection and assistance with dignity. And humanitarian aid is built on the international humanitarian law which forms the humanitarian principles that guide humanitarian aid. While humanitarian charter provides the ethical and legal backing for the protection principles, the core humanitarian standards and sphere minimum standard for humanitarian response (Sphere Association, 2018). “The Humanitarian Charter summarizes the core legal principles that have most bearing on the welfare of those affected by disaster or conflict” Sphere Association (2018).

 

Seblewengel Debebe Dagne quoted in his thesis thus “According to Akramov (2012) Official Development Aid (ODA) falls into three different categories. The first category is economic aid, which mainly focuses on raising capital accumulation by increasing a recipient nation’s stock of physical capital such as machinery, buildings and equipment. Economic aid is divided into two, those allocated for production sectors which includes agriculture, manufacturing, mining, construction, trade and tourism sectors and the others allocated for developing economic infrastructures, which include equipment for communication and electronic networks, road and railroad construction, financial infrastructure and energy distribution. The second category of ODA is social aid which is intended to build additional physical and human capital in recipient countries to promote economic growth, which includes education, healthcare, and sanitation and drinking water supplies. The third category is humanitarian aid which is intended for consumption during emergency situations which includes medicine and food”. This implies that humanitarian aid is aimed at live saving (medicine and food).

 

History of humanitarian aid

 

The history of humanitarian aid can be traced to Florence Nightingale (1854) and Henri Dunant (1859). During the Crimean War, Nightingale and her team of 38 nurses provided health, nutrition, clean water and hygiene services support to wounded soldiers on voluntary bases

and also mobilized more volunteers to support the course. She provided the bases for statistical measurement of mortality and morbidity rate as well as cause of death which provided evidence based information for her campaign for the need of people affected by conflict. She advocated for the establishment

of a Royal Commission on the Health of the Army in Britain (Wikipedia).

 

The origin of formalized humanitarian aid is tied to the story of Henri Dunant, a Swiss businessman and a social activist. He works with volunteers to assist wounded soldiers across all nations (French, Italians and Austrians) establishing the foundation of humanitarian principles; impartiality and neutrality. He advocated for the creation of a permanent relief society and international humanitarian law. These gain grounds with the endorsement of his vision by the International Committee for Aid to Wounded in Situation of War established by private Geneva Society of Public Welfare. This committee laid the foundation for the International Committee of Red Cross which is to date the largest providers of humanitarian aid in the world and the guidance of international humanitarian law whose foundation was built on the treaty signed by 16 states who attended the Geneva Convention between 8 and 22 August, 1864 (Wikipedia).

 

Humanitarian aid in response to natural disaster can be traced to the call of international communities’ attention to the North Chinese famine of 1876 to 1879 which would’ve claimed 10 million lives according to Wikipedia. This was championed by Timothy Richard which resulted in the establishment of the Shandong Famine Relief Committee with the participation of many diplomats, businessmen, and protestants and catholic missionaries. The same campaign was launched in response to the great famine of 1876 – 1878 in India and a famine relief fund was set up in the United Kingdom which raised up to £426,000 within the first few months.

 

Prior to the 1980s, humanitarian aids were championed by private sectors with limited financial and organizational capacities until the BBC global news coverage that exposed the reality of the challenges around aids and the mobilization of celebrities to galvanize large scale government led humanitarian funds to respond to global disaster.

 

There were no well-organized international humanitarian aids until 1991 when the United Nations established an office of coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) under resolution 46/182 which is saddled with the responsibility of leading, coordinating and facilitating humanitarian assistance. “It was designed to strengthen the United Nations response to complex emergencies and natural disasters, while improving the overall effectiveness of humanitarian operations in the field” OCHA (2019). Through this office, the UN Secretary General led the first ever World humanitarian summit in 2016 at Istanbul, Turkey where preventing and ending conflict, managing crises, and aid financing were the center of discussion (Wikipedia).

 

Humanitarian principles

 

According to Schweitzer, humanitarian aid differs from other relief and emergency aid and broad global welfare in that it includes commitment to the four core humanitarian principles; humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.

 

Hence, organizations such as military forces and for-profit companies are not considered as humanitarian organizations because even though they provide life - saving and suffering alleviating services to the vulnerable communities, yet their responses are not based on humanitarian principles. These principles govern the way and manner humanitarian response is provided which is centered at the establishment and maintenance of access to the vulnerable groups affected by the disaster either man-made or natural.

 

Compliance with the humanitarian principles is essential to the lifesaving and suffering alleviation given to the vulnerable groups and to the coordination of the interventions. These are backed also by the protection principles which apply to all humanitarian response and all humanitarian agencies as outlined below;

 

1) Enhance the safety, dignity and rights of people, and avoid exposing them to harm.

2) Ensure people’s access to assistance according to need and without discrimination.

3) Assist people to recover from the physical and psychological effects of threatened or actual violence, coercion or deliberate deprivation.

4) Help people claim their rights.

 

Core humanitarian standards

 

The core humanitarian standards set out nine quality and accountability commitments by organizations and individuals involved in humanitarian responses towards ensuring quality and effectiveness of the humanitarian assistance they provide to the vulnerable target populations. The nine commitments according to Sphere Association, (2018) include;

 

1) Humanitarian response is appropriate and relevant.

2) Humanitarian response is effective and timely.

3) Humanitarian response strengthens local capacities and avoids negative effects.

4) Humanitarian response is based on communication, participation and feedback.

5) Complaints are welcomed and addressed.

6) Humanitarian response is coordinated and complementary.

7) Humanitarian actors continuously learn and improve.

8) Staff is supported to do their job effectively, and is treated fairly and equitably.

9) Resources are managed and used responsibly for their intended purpose.

 

Prolong conflict and humanitarian aids

 

According to the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), many armed conflicts in history have been a longwar meaning that the protracted conflicts are not new with history tracing back to the work of Thucydides who gave a detailed account of the 27 years’ war between Athens and Sparta. But the concept of protracted conflict today has some new features that are peculiar to our generations such as urban conflicts, involvement of new technology, affecting middle income and poorer countries, large and more diverse humanitarian sector participation and global media sector involvement among others (ICRC, 2016). Although there is not yet a universally accepted definition for protracted conflict, ICRC (2016) acknowledged that the phrase emerged from the work of Prof Edward Azar in 1970s and they characterized the concept with the following;

 

i) Different types of protracted conflict based on it longevity

ii) Fragmented conflicts that mutate involving the raise of many armed groups, splinting armed forces, etc.

iii) Episodic in nature involving periods of different conflict intensity

iv) Internationalization of the conflict

v) Manifest of cumulative impact such as degradation of infrastructures, services and living conditions among others

vi) Creation of extreme fragility in basic services, social, economic and environmental systems that support civilian populace.

vii) Stricken number, concentration and new pattern of suffering.

 

Although the above characteristic defines protracted conflict in modern terms, the effects of the prolonged conflict are both systematic and all encompassing. Protracted conflict exert effects on people, the state and basic services, the region, humanitarian action and increased fragility of the public provision system (ICRC, 2016).

 

The protracted insurgency in the Northeast has yielded devastating effect on the geographical area of the country particularly the Adamawa, Borno and Yobe with the highest impact on Borno state which is the hub of the insurgent group. This has caught the attention of many international agencies and individuals especially with the hardship exerted on the vulnerable groups in the society; the displaced women, children and men. This informed the increased humanitarian aid support being pumped into these locations. Olojo (2019) of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) recognized the effort of humanitarian aid organizations in supporting these vulnerable groups, however, he noted that aid organizations can only help to alleviate the symptom of the crisis but dealing with the root causes remains the job of Nigeria’s government, and can no longer be neglected. Olojo added that humanitarian aid in Borno is faced with the problem of climate change while pointing challenges such as lack of accountability among over 150 NGOs operating in the state whose humanitarian motives are still of suspicions to the government authorities and possible socioeconomic impact that may unconsciously arise from the humanitarian aid due to attractive financial rewards. Branczik (2004) also argued on the socioeconomic impact of aid while citing the instance of aid perpetuating a conflict in Sudan, where civil war lasted for well over a decade and over two billion dollars was spent on humanitarian aid. He added that “both rebel leaders and aid workers openly acknowledge that humanitarian aid, in addition to saving many lives, is a large factor in making it possible for the belligerent groups to continue fighting”. This can be aligned with the realities of house rent in Borno and cost of other commodities as well as general inflation in the market as compared to other Northeast states that were not affected by the crisis. Furthermore, Olojo (2019) identified proactive policymaking to reinforce the state’s capacity to address the societal challenges that may arise after humanitarian aid through foresight and political will to drive the implementation of Nigeria’s Policy Framework and National Action Plan for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism especially the third section which deals with community engagement and building resilience. Hence, government response to the insurgency must include planning beyond the short-term humanitarian aid provided by the aid agencies (Olojo, 2019).

 

In protracted conflict, effective humanitarian response can be achieved through adaptation of programming processes, practice and information management system to focus on long term outcome, achieving development holds by investing on essential services during conflict to reduce redevelopment and rebuilding cost, partnering for humanitarian sustainability and continuity in protracted conflict, doing annual planning with multi-year mindset through multi-year programming and financing and deepening community engagement through involving them in design, planning, implementation and evaluation of the interventions (ICRC, 2016).

 

Humanitarian aid contribution to Borno State

 

The importance of humanitarian aid can be traced to the purpose and/or its definition “saving lives, alleviating suffering and upholding human dignity during and after crisis or natural disaster”. Humanitarian aid addresses the effect of conflict such as creation of social and economic dislocations, displacement of the people, collapse of state and civil society institutions, and disenfranchisement of peoples’ means of livelihood, break up of communal living and hindrance of peoples’ access to basic services according to International Labour Organization (ILO, 2004). By addressing this effect, humanitarian aid contributes to bring relief to the suffering of the people and contributes to rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement of the people affected by conflict.

 

Borno state has suffered a protracted conflict of over a decade whose impact is manifest in the displacement of over 1.4 million people according to UNICEF report (2016), social and economic dislocation, and destruction of properties and sources of livelihood and hinders the access of worth more than 1.4 million peoples to basic services. However, through the humanitarian response, interventions were provided to the affected persons and communities in the areas of food security and nutrition, water sanitation and hygiene (WASH), health and shelter and settlement. All these interventions were provided with protection principles as pivotal to the provision and access to such services in a dignified way (Sphere Association, 2018). The intervention has gone beyond the life - saving to education of the young ones, rehabilitation, reintegration and resettlement of the conflict affected population. Also, restoration of telecommunication services provided by ICRC and reconstruction of major assets such as health and educational facilities; security facilities (building of police stations) and restoration of justice systems in the most affected LGAs of the state. According to Kallon (2019) the entire humanitarian aid agencies in operation across the Northeast Nigeria provided humanitarian aid to 5.6 million in 2017; 5.5 million in 2018 and over 4 million in 2019 (as of October) most affected people within accessible local government areas within the region.

 

Challenges of humanitarian aid in Borno

 

Humanitarian aid in Borno state the epicenter of the insurgency like other affected Northeast states suffers lack of due attention by United Nations (UN), International NGOs, Humanitarian donors and the government of Nigeria living a large population of displaced and affected people in dire need of aid as reported by McIlreavy and Schopp (2017) on Humanitarian Practice Network. Humanitarian aid continue to face the challenges of access to people with dire needs due to restricted security perimeter by the military as aptly noted by Eguiluz (2020) while the protracted conflict continues to displace people with dire needs who seek for sanctuary in garrison towns with restricted security perimeters thereby, lower the standard of aids provided. Eguiluz further argued that donor fatigue is not the problem as funding keeps coming but the challenge is to find implementing partners and delivering programmes outside the city. This can be attributed to reported cases of abductions and executions of aid workers by the AOGs. The perception of Nigeria government that INGOs were untrustworthy agents meddling with in Nigeria domestic affairs reported by McIlreavy and Schopp (2017) and other narratives associated with the military lockdown of aids agencies’ offices in Maiduguri reported by media in September, 2019. This is also subject to more scrutiny as many writers has different opinion about it.

 

Nigeria Humanitarian Response Strategy (2018) also agreed with Eguiluz (2020) submission on restricted security perimeters as a challenge facing the humanitarian aid in addition to bureaucratic impediments around; importation of life-saving drugs and other humanitarian goods, legal ambiguity and delay in INGO registration and high cost as well as delay in obtaining visa for international staff. The strategy also agrees with Olojo (2019) submission on climate changes as a challenge to humanitarian aid while adding that the presence of explosive remnants of war (ERW) and IED planted on the road targeting military convoy.

 

Branczik (2004) identified efficiency and effectiveness, political dilemma and criticism of humanitarian organizations as the key problems of humanitarian aids while development aid is faced with lack of conflict preventive component in design, aid conditionality and efficiency and effectiveness problems. Inefficiency of humanitarian aid can sprout from the number of humanitarian organizations providing aid in Borno as earlier mentioned by Olojo (2019) and poor coordination with duplication of interventions while challenges of access to the vulnerable groups contributes to ineffectiveness as identified by Humanitarian Country Team in Nigerian Humanitarian Response Strategy (2018) that 13% of the population in dire need are not accessible. As rightly noted by Olojo (2019) “aid organizations….. alleviate the symptoms of the crisis but dealing with the root causes remains the job of Nigeria’s government” political will beyond humanitarian alibi is essential to overcome the political dilemma.

 

Concept of post conflict development

 

Prolong insurgency often halt development stride and destroy efforts made toward developing the society especially as structure established towards achieving development goals of the state or a nation are destroyed by the insurgency.

 

This trough the state backward in the efforts towards achieving the developmental agenda of the state. According to the Borno State 2020 to 2030 Strategy: Transformation of Borno State document which contains the recently launched 25 years development plan of the state, 1.379 trillion Naira (6.898 billion dollar) worth assets were destroyed in the state as a result of the insurgency. Obviously, a setback in the development stride of the state which means that effort must be put in place to recover this damage before returning to the path of the development. This is a difficult impact of the insurgency as it does not only halt the development stride but revert the efforts made so far to achieve what was achieved thereby returning the state to a “ground zero”.

 

Realizing the impact of the insurgency on the state and the need to return to the path of development, the Borno state government proactively identified six (6) key priority areas for development and designed a strategy document for 10 years development with focus on those identified areas while designing 9 strategic pillars for actualising these priorities. The following areas were identified as priorities for the 10 years development plan of the state as contained in the 2020 to 2030 Strategy: Transformation of Borno State:

 

i) Rebuild and sustain a society where our citizens and residents can live in peace and thrive by improving security and rebuilding communities.

ii) Increase employment opportunities and decent work particularly for the youth by stimulating a vibrant economic sector, with particular focus on agriculture, livestock, fishing and commerce.

iii) Develop healthy human capital through access to quality education and life-long learning, good healthcare, portable water and sanitation.

iv) Reverse the trend of environmental degradation and promote sustainability.

v) Rebuild and secure infrastructure to support inclusive economic growth and cater for both current and future population needs.

vi) Re-energize and instill its cultural values of integrity, hard-work and dignity of labour, as well as respect for our fellow citizens regardless of gender, age or religion, and appreciation for the sustainability of our land.

 

These priorities will be implemented through nine (9) strategic pillars; human capital development, leadership in agriculture, health citizenry, regional trade hub, reconstruct, rehabilitate and resettle, purposeful infrastructure, accountable governance and peace and security.

 

Linkage of humanitarian aid with development

 

The continuous emerging of conflicts and the prolong humanitarian aids support especially in Africa has been reported to be mounting more pressure on the donors, governments and aid organizations as it overstretched funding that would have been used for development aids to underdeveloped countries that are mostly the crisis centers. Many experts agreed that if humanitarian aids are continuously planned and implemented in isolation from developmental aids, it will breed long term dependencies, undermine indigenous coping strategies and increase vulnerability in the long run (Bidder, 1994). Hence, the suggestion that humanitarian aids should be linked with development aids as aptly noted by Food Security Unit of the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University in its report in 1993/1994 which were affirmed by Bidder (1994) and Dieci (2006). According to the institution, "the basic idea is simple and sensible.

 

Emergencies are costly in terms of life and resources. They are disruptive of development. They demand a long period of rehabilitation and they have spawned bureaucratic structures, lines of communication and organizational cultures, which duplicate development institutions and sometimes cut across them. By the same token, development policy and administration are often insensitive to the risk of drought and to the importance of protecting vulnerable households against risk. If relief and development can be "linked" these deficiencies can be overcome. Better "development" can reduce the need for emergency relief, better "relief" can contribute to development, and better "rehabilitation" can ease any remaining transition between the two". This can also be traced back to the ratification of the linking relief to rehabilitation and development as a central pillar in the national disaster prevention and preparedness strategy of Ethiopia in 1987 (Dieci, 2006). The International Organization for Migration (IOM) also noted that the high demand for humanitarian assistance with a record of 68.5 million displaced person worldwide in 2017 (with 80% conflict related displacement) and protracted crises has generated high demand for humanitarian assistance which are increasingly underfunded has necessitated the World Humanitarian Summit 2016 to succumb to the reality that humanitarian assistance alone cannot resolve the crises. Hence, the need for humanitarian-development-peace nexus (also called the triple nexus) and a New Way of working to reduce needs risks and vulnerability.

 

Therefore, Borno state that has experienced such a protracted crisis of over a decade with a full-fledged humanitarian aid assistance of over 6 years should have grown in the area of development with a well-defined development agenda that will fit in all interventions towards its development. Although, one could argue that because of the active conflict situation development should not be central agenda at the moment, but with the dynamics of the crisis in Borno state where the insurgent groups are forced into the hideouts in the Sambisa forest and bushes in the outskirt of the state, development initiatives can be tied to the ongoing humanitarian assistance. However, it is commendable of the state government to have looked beyond these challenges and developed a structured plan and strategy for the development of the state and deploys resources towards achieving that within a short, mid and long-term base.

 

The importance of linking humanitarian aid with development aid cannot be over emphasized as many scholars has argued the vitality of such approach to the future of the affected populations with a special emphasis on the “dependency syndrome” of protracted humanitarian aid resulting from protracted conflict as supported by Anderson (1999), Dieci (2006) and Olojo (2019) among other. According to Dieci (2006) “if prolonged over the years, relief interventions tend to be perceived by the beneficiaries as a structural solution to their problems. In some cases, food aid can create such a risk”. He added that coexistence of the two types of aid is not just in diachronically as first relief, then rehabilitation and finally development but also as synchronically. He opines that relief plans need to use development methodologies in order to be effectively “development oriented” which is an approach that includes enhancing local capacity (both human resource and institutional), the roles of local actors and a participatory approach to identification of priorities and strategies. “In a recent issue of the Institute of Development Studies Bulletin, Buchanan-Smith and Maxwell outlined five reasons why linking relief and rehabilitation is receiving such prominence at this time. The first, as mentioned already, is concern about the increasing portion of aid budgets being spent on emergencies and how to strengthen the linkage with development aid. Second, it is acknowledged that emergencies can make subsequent development more difficult, by diverting funds from local institutions, or by creating new chains of command which are less responsive to development needs. Thirdly, rehabilitation has become much more important, especially given the close association between famine and war (or, in the case of Ethiopia, the after-effects of prolonged civil war linked with chronic under-investment in development). Fourthly, it is becoming widely accepted that the traditional compartmentalization between relief and development is artificial as far as poor people themselves are concerned. The poor living in the agriculturally marginal areas of Ethiopia, for example, live constantly with food shortages and the risk of famine and plan their livelihood strategies accordingly. In this context, as described earlier, it has perhaps become misleading to talk of a linear sequence of "relief-recovery-rehabilitation-development" - a more sophisticated approach is necessary, one that recognizes the complexity and diversity of livelihood (or, "survival") strategies. Finally, linking relief and development offers the possibility of a model whereby relief and development interventions can be implemented harmoniously to provide poor people with food security and efficient safety-nets, mitigating the frequency and impact of shocks (such as rain failure) and easing rehabilitation” quoted from Bidder (1994). This agreed with the submission of Dieci (2006) as argued on the potency of diachronically alignment of relief to rehabilitation and subsequent development to synchronically interweaving the aids.

 

Theoretical framework

 

In the International Political Economy literature a number of models have been developed by Scholars and Researchers alike to explain the pattern and flow of humanitarian assistance. Goldstein and Pevehouse (2008) have identified three models of humanitarian assistance which they distinguished by the type of assistance provided rather than the type of donors that provided them. These models fall within the purview of both the government and private organizations.

 

The disaster relief model

 

The disaster relief model center on short-term humanitarian aid provided to crisis affected population such as war and natural disasters (earthquake, drought and flood) to save their lives and alleviate suffering. The assistance being provided are health, food, clothes, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene among other. The model provides an insight to the justification for development aids to areas impacted by crisis. Where catastrophe strike, destruction of life and properties damages the stride towards development of the area. It destroys years of tread towards economic growth and development of the area. This, therefore, stimulate the development partners to step in and provide development aid towards returning the area to the path of development. To this end the international community through the United Nations and other multilateral platforms often respond with adequate relief materials to alleviate the suffering of the people and possibly bring the affected people back on their feet. The disaster relief model is adopted by the United Nations through the United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator (UNDRC) located in Geneva. Lastly, despite the usefulness of the disaster relief model it cannot be used to explain, describe and prescribe the nature, motivation and implications of development partners support via humanitarian assistance to Northeastern states affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.

 

The missionary model

 

The Missionary Model involves humanitarian assistance provided by missionaries based on charitable work in poor nations across the globe. Besides, such charitable gestures or programmes are helpful, though not without its challenges. They are means by which donors from developed countries channel their resources to people in developing countries who are in need of humanitarian assistance. However, many programmes provided by most missionaries are to address short term needs which may not create sustained local economic development. Besides, most of these programmes do not address the root cause of poverty. One of the missionary assistances provided in Africa was carried out by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) that funded a healthy fraction of their budget by selling to African countries some grain they ship from the United States. The charities are becoming international grain merchants and flooding local markets with cheap food which is sold and given away, competing with local farmers in Africa and driving down local prices and harming long-term recovery (Goldstein and Pevehouse, 2008). Finally, one major shortcoming of the missionary model is that large scale humanitarian assistance provided to the people in the developing nations may not be appropriate to meet the needs of the local condition and culture of the people in need of humanitarian assistance.

 

The Oxfam model

 

The Oxfam model was built on continuous learning from short-term aid to disaster affected population to long-term development assistance through a bottom-up approach that focus on needs strategy. The model re-conceptualized donor relief aid from short-term assistance to long-term development as a result of it approach which consider donors as partners with the aid recipients working together to achieve a task. They thrive on the perceived collaborative relationship which is considered as necessary for peace and development. The model derived its name from an America charity called Oxfam, one of the global descendants of the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief founded in Britain 1942.

 

The model relies heavily on the local communities to determine the need of the people and implement developmental projects. The Oxfam model sees “Genuine development” within the context that it: “enable people to meet their essential needs, extends beyond food aid and emergency relief; reverses the process of impoverishment; enhances democracy; makes possible a balance between population and resources; improves the well-being and status of women; respect local cultures; sustain the natural environment, measure progress in human, not just monetary terms; involve change, not just charity; requires, empowerment of the poor; and the Global North as well as the South” (Oxfam American News, 2008 cited in Potter et al., 2004). The model does not accept or grant funds to government but operate independently and engage the communities directly to address their developmental needs. Therefore, the Oxfam model bypasses governments and also bypasses the majority of money spent on humanitarian assistance globally (Goldstein and Pevehouse, 2008). On the whole, the Oxfam model adapted to the study of development partners, humanitarian assistance and quest for reconstruction of Northeastern Nigeria.

The study adopted a survey research design to collect relevant data to assess the impact of humanitarian aid on post conflict development of Borno State. Survey research design was used because it incorporates two techniques; qualitative and quantitative methods to answer research questions. Primary and secondary data were collected from Maiduguri Borno state using google survey interview and review of existing literatures. The population size according to 2006 population census stands at 543,016 persons however; the influx of IDPs due to the conflict has further increased the population with an inaccurate estimation of the population size. The sampling frame includes government workers, humanitarian aid workers, academia, students/apprentices, private sector employees, self-employed and other daily workers within Maiduguri, Borno state. Due inaccurate estimate of the population frame, the research purposively targeted 100 respondent survey interviews. Therefore, a total of 100 respondents were randomly interviewed from the purposively selected population frame who are believed to have key information about the subject matter in consideration of the risks associated with travels outside Maiduguri town and to ensure data quality.

 

The development of the instruments underwent first, the casual analysis of the statement of problem in a broad spectrum of the activities were undertaken to achieve the research objectives. This was based on the topic of the study, bearing in mind the major factors as contained in the topic. Also, the review of relevant literature and the researchers’ personal experience as a development worker helped in the development of the items for the study. A pilot test was administered to determine the reliability and validity of the instrument and the outcome was used to standardize the tool used for data collection. A reliability index value of 0.76 was determined using the Cronbach alpha test method.

 

Quantitative data from the questionnaire were downloaded on excel from the google forms earlier distributed. Data collected were collated, cleaned and analyzed using excel pivot table to categorize responses in percentages. The qualitative data generated from the semi structured questions were collated and descriptively analyzed. A conventional content analysis was used to analyze the findings and directly reported. The results obtained informed the conclusion drawn from the research.

The study aimed to assess the impact of humanitarian aid on development of Borno state after the conflict with a view of identifying the opportunities in humanitarian aids that can foster development of the state. The findings from the study shows that humanitarian aid has a positive impact on post conflict development of Borno state considering the different areas of the interventions. 77% of the study population affirms the existence of relations between humanitarian aid and development which agrees with the submission of Hinds (2015). The aid being provided covers different indices of development which is creating opportunity for the development of the state in the post conflict era. The research further reveals that 62% of the population opines that the relationship between humanitarian aid and development is positive and supportive to the post conflict development as aptly supported by Imhonopi and Urim (2016). In the efforts of the aid to save life and alleviate suffering of the conflict affected population, the aid brought about reconstruction of critical infrastructures that lays a foundation for the future development of the state in the aftermath of the conflict. The interventions in the areas of healthcare, nutrition, education, shelter reconstruction, food security and livelihood, water sanitation and hygiene and social cohesion/peacebuilding are essentially contributing to the post conflict development of the state because they re-established structures both infrastructural and socio-economical that could be sustained towards post conflict development. 91.8% of the study population affirms the significance of the impact of the humanitarian aid on social and economic livelihood of the resident. Development is a product of socio-economic activities which could only be done by the living (human beings). In saving lives and alleviating suffering, humanitarian aid is sustaining the hope of future development because only the living could bring about development. While infrastructures both hard and soft reconstructed through the humanitarian interventions are essential components of development being a critical index of measuring development. The components of the humanitarian interventions that deals with the livelihood and social life of the affected population cannot be downtrodden in the foresight of the post conflict development. This is because sustaining the economic viability of the affected state is a necessary building block for the future development because economy of the state is a pivotal index of measuring the level of development. It is also an integral to recognize the findings of the study which shows the contribution of the humanitarian aid to socio-economic of the affected population being an essential index of development as well.

 

Although, 62% of the study population believes that humanitarian aid would not cause any problem to the post conflict development of the state. The research reveals that humanitarian aid is faced with challenges of ineffective synergy, collaboration and coordination among the actors and the state government which have tendencies of affecting the post conflict development of the state. Yet, the worse challenges are lack of ownership and sustainability of the intervention among the local community and the government authorities. The infrastructural and socioeconomic developments brought into the conflict affected state through the humanitarian intervention which are supposed to lay the foundation for the future development of the state in the post conflict era will be a charade without intentional sustainable measures, acceptance and local ownership. This could also be attributed to a key finding in the research; unhealthy perception of government officials that pitch the people against aid workers. Where the aid workers are considered as the enemies, their interventions will be treated with disdain which will manifest in lack of sustainability. Therefore, government must lead the efforts towards ensuring community acceptance and ownership of the interventions towards its contribution to post conflict development as also suggested by Olojo (2019). Nevertheless, the findings of the study also shows that internal corruption, rivalry among humanitarian agencies, duplication of interventions poses a major threat to the post conflict development of the state but as earlier mentioned joint efforts with all actors will address this challenge. Although the research finding shows that amidst all the challenges identified with the ongoing humanitarian aid, the interventions would not cause any problem to the post conflict development of the state. However, it is important to take cognizance of the fact that a significant number of the population holds a contrary opinion towards this as such extra caution must be taken to ensure that the latter is achieved. Figure 1 show the respondent opinion on the ongoing humanitarian aid causing any problem to the development of Borno State in post conflict period.

 

 

Finally, the research shows that the humanitarian aid provides a great opportunity for the future development of the state in post conflict. However, the state government must identify these opportunities offered by the aid and maximize it towards realization of its contribution to the post conflict development. The study has further revealed that the citizens expect more from the government to halt the insurgency. The commitment of the government and the military fighting the insurgency are questioned by the citizens as they believe that an overhaul of the strategy/approach of both government and the military, improved commitment and exploration of all available means of building peace are essential to bring an end to the insurgency. The necessity for the impact of humanitarian aid to foster post conflict development of the state, is the end of the insurgency without which the re-destruction of re-constructed infrastructures aimed at saving lives and alleviating suffering while supporting post conflict development will be a vicious circle.

The research concluded based on each research objectives as presented in the paragraphs below. The impact of the prolonged insurgency in Borno state is manifest in all facets of developmental indices especially infrastructurally with a large number of physical infrastructures worth trillions of naira being destroyed by the insurgency. This directly affected the post conflict development of the state as the infrastructures that are meant to support economic activities towards the post conflict development processes of the state lays in disarray courtesy of the insurgency. The ripple effect of the situation will be massive, and this could only be manifest in the nearest future as a complete generation is placed at risk of losing the grip of the requisite knowledge and skills for effective leadership and development of the state with the spade of infrastructural destruction, especially schools. Also, the prolonged insurgency has impacted the livelihood activities of the affected population which are the activities that boost the economy of the state which is a vital index of the state development in the post conflict. While the aid dependency syndrome has further complicated the situation with a large population of the productive group not willing to take the lead of their lives and engage themselves in productive activities that will generate income for them and thereby contributing to the economic development of the state.

 

Humanitarian aid is highly connected to the development of Borno state in the aftermath of the insurgency as such should be taken into cognizance by the government at all levels. Although the prolonged insurgency hinders the development of the state, the humanitarian interventions ongoing in the state must be maximized to ensure that it lays a foundation for effective development of the state in the post conflict. The restriction of movement due to the ongoing fight against the insurgent halted the major commercial activities that contributes to the development of the state; fish business from Baga fish market, cultivation of crops and rearing of livestock; cross-border business of Gamboru-Ngala and Banki among other border markets. Distortion of educational and socio-economic activities across the state also increases the risk to post conflict development of the state. However, humanitarian aid provides different forms of interventions that address cross-cutting issues of such concerns that could be leveraged on to lay a foundation for the post conflict development of the state. Therefore, the strong relationship between humanitarian aid and post conflict development of Borno state necessitated that the government should pay attention to the intervention because of its necessity to effective development of the state after the conflict. Consequently, the study contributed to the body of knowledge as it established that amidst many challenges and concerns associated with humanitarian aid and protracted conflict, the aid is highly connected to the post conflict development as such should not be neglected by the local authorities.

 

The information gathered from the findings of the research support the conclusion that humanitarian aid is impactful on post conflict development of Borno State. The interventions provided by the humanitarian aid are in the areas of health (including renovation, reconstruction, equipping and establishing mobile health facilities in addition to provision of the healthcare services); nutrition (supporting to save the lives of malnourished children, pregnant women, lactating mothers and food distribution for affected households); food security and livelihood (conditional cash transfer/distribution, agricultural and economic empowerment); shelter (construction of temporary shelter, distribution of non - food items, reconstruction of houses and other facilities); water sanitation and hygiene (construction of toilet facilities, awareness creation on hygienic behaviors, construction of boreholes and water points among others); education in emergency (enrolment and re-enrolment of children to schools, construction of temporary schools, renovation and reconstruction of school facilities, provision of non-formal educational system to bridge the gaps, vocational skills development among other) and peacebuilding and social cohesion (behaviour change interventions targeted at building peace, reintegration of people associated with arm groups, rehabilitation of ex-combatant, citizens – state engagement activities towards building trust and collaboration among other). All the highlighted areas of the interventions above fit into different indexes of development which means that effective delivery of these interventions will contribute greatly to the indices of development. Thereby laying a good ground for the post conflict development to thrive towards achieving the targeted future development planned by the state. Also, humanitarian aid has a significant impact on the social and economic livelihood of the people of Borno as it aided the reduction of the internally displaced person (IDPs) from the camp, provides employment for the youths and business opportunity for many business owners who supply goods and services to the aid agencies. This is significant for post conflict development of the state. However, it is also worthy to take into cognizance the significance of the population of study that have a divergent opinion on the positive impact of the humanitarian aid on the social and economic livelihood of the Borno people. This is because the higher population of the study opines that there is a positive impact but the ratio of the population with an opposing opinion (33:62) was large enough to be considered. This implies that the merging between the two opinions was not very wide.

 

Although the study informed the conclusion that the ongoing humanitarian interventions in Borno state will not cause any problem to the post conflict development of the state, it also called for more attention on the challenges that have potentials to avert this conclusion from standing. The challenges such as lack of synergy, collaboration, coordination, rivalry/competition, and complementarity among the aid agencies and between the aid agencies and the state government. Duplication of interventions; corruption among the aid workers (especially logistic, procurement and human resource units); attacks targeted at the aid workers by the Boko haram group; unhealthy perception of government officials that pitch the people against aid workers; and lack of ownership and sustainability of the intervention were considered as challenges that threatens the effectiveness of humanitarian interventions. This implies that if these challenges are not carefully managed by the government who is supposed to take the lead in humanitarian intervention, the prospect of the intervention's contribution to post conflict development might not be achieved. However, the giant stride by the state government in the establishment of the agency for coordination of humanitarian affairs and the development of a strategic plan for the development of the state in post conflict is a step in the direction of addressing this problem if sentimental and malicious factors are put aside.

 

The humanitarian aid provided an opportunity for development of the state in post conflict if well utilized by the government and the people of the state. If the government will utilize it forces and increase it commitment (backed by actions); enhance supervision of the leadership of the security forces; improve the welfare and motivation of the personnel of the security forces; equip the security actors effectively; take an offensive approach to fighting the Boko haram and take the war to the camps of the insurgency while exploring available options of peacebuilding, the protracted insurgency will be ended. This will provide the ground for full implementation of developmental strategies which will build on the opportunities provided by the humanitarian aid towards effective development of the state. And this could only be achieved by employing a strategic approach to withdraw from humanitarian aid into early recovery and then post conflict development. But this must be led by the state government hence the importance of the agencies for coordination of humanitarian affairs.

The following are therefore recommended from the study based on the above conclusion;

 

i) Government should employ all available options (both military forces and peace and reconciliation approaches) to ensure that the crises and/or on-going conflicts are resolved as soon as possible to avoid prolonging issues that will impact more on the development of the state.

ii) Since it is established that there is a strong connection between humanitarian intervention and post conflict development, it is therefore necessary that authorities do not neglect humanitarian intervention or create a gap between the aid agencies and the state. There should be strong good coordination and support from the government who is to take the leadership of the intervention and ensure that the interventions are effectively delivered in line with the post conflict development agenda of the state.

iii) The targeted populations receiving the humanitarian aid should be supported to know that the aid is just temporary as such they should consciously peak up the challenges of regaining their livelihood and economic activities and avoid dependence on the aid.

iv) The government must support the aid agencies to ensure the acceptance and ownership of the interventions by the people and garner support to the agencies toward sustainability of the interventions. Since the interventions are bedrock for the future development of the state in the aftermath of the conflict, sustainability is necessary, and this could only be guaranteed by the targeted population who received the interventions.

v) The government must empower the state agency for coordination of humanitarian affair and create a good synergy between the agencies and the Northeast Development Commission (NEDC) to ensure that they work effectively and void of bias and malicious intent in collaborate with aid agencies to coordinate their activities, ensure synergy and avoid duplication of intervention. While managing rivalry and unhealthy competition among actors towards effective delivery of the intervention with the post conflict development of the state in mind.

vi) The government should key into opportunities provided by the humanitarian aid in the various areas of the interventions which are directly contributing to the various indices of development and strengthen the impact of the interventions to be more sustainable and build the post conflict development of the state on these opportunities.

vii) Further studies should be carried out to identify strategies that could be adopted to utilize the opportunities provided by humanitarian aid towards post conflict development of the states.

The authors have not declared any conflicts of interests.