Ahead of the 2027 general elections, TAF-Africa has launched a voter education campaign targeting at least 600 internally displaced persons (IDPs) at Wasa village in Abuja, with a focus on ensuring that displacement does not prevent eligible Nigerians from exercising their civic rights.

The organisation explained that the campaign is aimed at educating IDPs on their right to participate in elections in tandem with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to enable displaced citizens to register, transfer their polling units and replace lost Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

Speaking during the exercise, Assistant Programme Manager, TAF-Africa, George Dominic, said the organisation had previously worked with INEC to facilitate Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) for eligible IDPs in the camp.

“They are IDPs, but that does not mean they are no longer citizens. They are still citizens of Nigeria. We are here to create awareness about the need for them to participate and about the provisions that INEC has made for their participation in the electoral process,” Dominic said.

He said many residents were displaced from states including Borno and Adamawa by insurgency, communal violence and other crises, with some losing their voter cards while others had never registered.

Dominic said the campaign could reach more than its 600-person target, given the interest already generated among residents, adding that TAF-Africa was distributing leaflets and flyers explaining the steps required to participate in the electoral process.

TAF-Africa estimates that more than 4.6 million Nigerians are displaced across Adamawa, Benue, Borno and Kaduna states, of whom about 2.4 million are aged 18 and above and potentially eligible to vote.

The organisation said the figures underscored the scale of the electoral inclusion challenge ahead of the 2027 elections and the need to ensure that displacement does not translate into disenfranchisement.

Beyond voter education, Dominic said TAF-Africa also provided rice and other relief items to residents, while calling for longer-term interventions to help displaced Nigerians rebuild their livelihoods.

“It is important that government also looks at how to support IDPs. They need capacity, economic empowerment and skills so that they can fend for themselves rather than depend on handouts all the time,” he said.

Dominic said sustained collaboration among INEC, government agencies, civil society organisations and humanitarian bodies would be necessary to ensure that displaced Nigerians remained connected to the electoral process and could exercise their civic responsibilities.

The chairman of the IDP association in the camp, Geoffrey Bitrus, commended the initiative and appealed for greater government and humanitarian intervention in education, water supply and healthcare.

Bitrus put the camp’s population at about 7,776 displaced persons from Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, Taraba, Nasarawa, Benue and Niger states.

He said only three of the six boreholes serving the camp were currently functioning, while the absence of a secondary school had left many children without access to continued formal education.

According to him, a privately established school that once provided free education to hundreds of children now charges about N30,000 per child following the withdrawal of support from some partners, forcing some children to drop out.

Bitrus also said the camp lacked a functioning health facility, noting that a mobile clinic donated by former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, stopped operating after about two to three years because of shortages of drugs and health personnel.

He urged the Federal Government, development partners and humanitarian organisations to support sustainable education, water and healthcare services in the camp.