Concern grows for women and children fleeing Cameroon
With the number of people fleeing English-speaking areas of Cameroon for Nigeria growing, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is increasingly concerned at the plight of women and children among them. Women and children represent about 80 percent of the approximately 10,000...
Nigerian lawyer receives UNHCR annual Nansen Award
GENEVA – In a glittering ceremony showcasing resilience and hope, Zannah Mustapha, a Nigerian lawyer, has received UNHCR’s prestigious Nansen Refugee Award for 2017 for providing orphans of Nigeria’s Boko Haram insurgency with an education. A...
Nansen award winner offers lifeline to widows of conflict
Instead, it almost ruined her life. Insurgents from Boko Haram, who have brought turmoil to much of north-east Nigeria in recent years, had blocked the road between two villages. Her husband, Usman, a primary school teacher was pulled out of the car. “They asked...
Nigerian girls from Nansen award winner’s school dream again
Even though early in the day, a baking hot sun is creating beads of sweat on the brows of excited students lined up in front of a modest wooden stage. Music blasts out of speakers to one side. The school has limited resources, but big ambitions. And today is a big...
UNHCR outlines way forward on Nigeria displacement
OSLO, Norway – As growing numbers of displaced Nigerians start to return home, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on Friday co-presented a way forward for ensuring protection, access and lasting solutions for them. “The two strategies of...
After displacement by Boko Haram, life remains a challenge
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria – The Boko Haram insurgency recently came to the humble home of Bintu in north-east Nigeria and turned her already hard life upside down. “My husband was slaughtered by the insurgents at our farm in Ngorodole,” the 30-year-old...
Freed from Boko Haram, Nigerians still need help
MONGUNO, Nigeria – Tens of thousands of Nigerians liberated from Boko Haram face a desperate lack of food that has left some children severely malnourished and families struggling to make ends meet, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency warned today. Children are being...