Logistics Operational Performance of Relief Organisations in the Management of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria

Abstract

NEMA and JISEMA, like most relief organisations, are mandated to provide temporary emergency response services targeted at preserving lives, preventing and alleviating human sufferings until the internally displaced persons (IDPs) are relocated back to their individual communities, yet their logistics activities is a clog in the wheel of these objectives based on logistics performances as the yardstick to measure and manage their performances (transport and operations). This paper aims to determine the impacts of relief organisations’ logistics performance during relief aid distributions to IDPs in Jigawa State, and Nigeria at large. Descriptive and inferential survey designs are used to analyse both primary and secondary data obtained for this study. The findings in this study reveals logistics performance had little impact on internally displaced persons (IDPS). This study revealed that diversions of these materials especially in transit and delays did not just result to hunger or malnutrition amongst the IDPs, but further bred and brought negative social impacts such as prostitution, drug use and peddling, alms collection and child labour (Almajir) in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital where most women and children from various IDP communities trooped in daily for alms collection. In view of the foregoing, this study concluded that relief organisations are not doing enough to alleviate the sufferings of IDPs in Nigeria in line with the targeted objectives of reducing and/or eliminating the plight of IDPs. This paper, therefore, recommends that the Federal Government should carry out proper evaluation of relief organisations’ capacities in terms of staff professionalism, inbound/outbound distribution with respect to delivery of relief materials. Evaluations of relief organisations be made in order to ensure they achieve activity-related objectives such as last mile aid distribution methods, as well as transit visibility, IT usage, gadget availability, staff professionalism, responsiveness, transparency, supply chain reliability, transport practices compliance and logistics performance because these factors could inhibit the building of the institutional capacity of government agencies such as the NEMA, JISEMA and other relevant national bodies.