The United Nations’ Cluster Approach to Humanitarian Response in Northeast Nigeria

The Boko Haram insurgency left more than two million people internally displaced. The victims faced three fundamental problems: the problem of getting life-saving assistance, the protection challenges, and the struggle to achieve durable solutions. Despite the efforts of the Government in responding to the situation, there are no signs of significant improvement. Consequently, under the notion of sovereignty as responsibility, the international community stepped in to support. However, the efforts of the international actors through the Cluster Approach was impeded by lack of a clear national legal framework in addressing internal displacement, which increased and prolonged the suffering of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). The objective of this paper is to evaluate the Cluster Approach to humanitarian response vis-a-vis the absence of clear national humanitarian response framework to internal displacement. This paper used explanatory research design using process tracing, and the Sovereignty as Responsibility theory guided the paper. It is found that all the humanitarian clusters were inadequately handled, which resulted in humanitarian response gaps. Conclusively, the failure is attributed to the absence of specific national legislation on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and lack of sustainable/clear institutional and policy frameworks in addressing internal displacement. It is therefore recommended that Nigeria should first domesticate the Kampala Convention of 2009. Second, restructure the humanitarian institutions. Lastly, international humanitarian organisations should use the existing traditional structures in delivering their humanitarian work.