A 76 page report entitled "
Assessing the Impact of Conflict on Development in North-east Nigeria" was published by the UNDP on 23 June 2021. It reports that in the years 2009-2020 the states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe witnessed 35,000 direct killings through violence. The report argues that a further 314,000 have died from the indirect effects of the conflict.
Frans Veerman, Managing Director of World Watch Research, welcomes this detailed but somber report: "It is particularly important to see how it is estimated that for each actual violent killing by Boko Haram, Fulani militia or other armed groups, "˜nearly nine more have been killed due to lack of food and resources" (page 8). This is the kind of detailed reporting which the Nigerian government must be made to respond to, not just with words but with positive action. The conflict in these three states and many others (such as Benue and Kaduna) is clearly focused around Islamist violence which is occurring with virtual impunity. The government is either helpless or it is deliberately allowing agricultural productivity to be reduced, economic growth to be curbed, levels of poverty to be heightened and homes, schools and health infrastructure to be destroyed. This is what the distinguished Professor of History, Samuel Totten, referred to as
"˜genocide by attrition" in the case of Sudan in July 2015.‚ Is Nigeria heading the same way - at least in part of the country?"
