Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much of the UK's development aid to Nigeria is used to (1) promote community cohesion, (2) protect those at risk of attack by jihadists, and (3) bring to justice those responsible for any atrocities and crimes against humanity.

The UK’s development assistance to Nigeria seeks to address some of the root causes of conflict throughout the country (and particularly in the North East) and help build stability in the longer term. In particular, the UK is promoting community cohesion in North East Nigeria through a range of interventions from £3m in 2019/20 to improve relationships between communities and security forces to both build trust and ensure the protection of civilians in target communities in Borno State, North East Nigeria; £900,000 to build the resilience of women and children survivors of violent extremism and reintegrate them into communities; and £2 million of support for Nigeria’s Defections, Disengagement, Demobilisation, De-radicalisation and Reintegration programme that is managed by the International Organisation for Migration from December 2019 to March 2021.

To protect those at risk of attack as a result of the insecurity, DFID has a £16m two-year programme dedicated to providing support to those affected by the conflict in North East Nigeria, particularly victims of sexual and gender-based violence. DFID works with partners, the UN and NGOs to save lives, strengthen resilience, and protect civilians from attacks and violations of international law. To improve the effectiveness of security responses and the protection of civilians in Borno state, the UK is providing up to £800,000 from October 2019 to March 2021.

We are careful to ensure that our ongoing work in a complex environment to bring potential perpetrators to justice is compliant with International Human Rights Law.