IOM says floods, heavy rainfall and windstorms displaced almost 72,000 people in Katsina between January 2025 and January 2026, compared with nearly 60,000 displaced by armed banditry and kidnapping.
Almost 72,000 people were displaced by floods, heavy rainfall and windstorms in Katsina State between January 2025 and January 2026, more than the nearly 60,000 displaced by banditry and kidnapping during the same period, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has said.
Sharon Dimanche, Chief of Mission of IOM Nigeria, disclosed the figures on Friday at a media briefing on displacement and peacebuilding in North-west Nigeria, held in Katsina.
“Almost 72,000 of those displacements followed floods, heavy rainfall or windstorms. Almost 60,000 were linked to armed banditry and kidnapping,” Ms Dimanche said.
She said insecurity was not the only cause of displacement in Katsina, noting that families forced from their homes by violence or extreme weather often suffer similar consequences.
Those consequences include lost livelihoods, disrupted schooling, fear, uncertainty and pressure on host communities.
“A family does not experience displacement in categories,” she said.
IOM said its latest assessment recorded 737,073 internally displaced people across the North-west states.
Almost 181,000 of them are in Katsina, while more than 261,000 are in Zamfara.
The agency also recorded almost 147,000 returnees across the North-west, including more than 37,000 in Katsina.
Among the displaced population recorded in the assessment, banditry and kidnapping accounted for the largest share.
IOM said almost 620,000 of the more than 737,000 displaced people, about 84 per cent, were forced from their homes by armed banditry and kidnapping.
Ms Dimanche said the scale of the crisis affects more than just the North-west, as insecurity and displacement disrupt food production, education, livelihoods, local economies and social cohesion.
“What is happening in the North-West is not simply a regional issue. It is a national issue,” she said.
While displacement continues, IOM also recorded people returning to their communities.
Ms Dimanche said that across the North-west and North-central regions combined, the assessed number of internally displaced people fell by nearly five per cent between October 2025 and February 2026, while the number of returnees rose by nearly five per cent.
But she warned against treating every return as a lasting solution.
“The question is not simply: Have they returned? The real question is: Can they stay? Can they rebuild their lives? Can they feel safe again?” she said.
She said returnees need security, livelihoods, schools and other basic services, while the conditions that forced them to leave must also be addressed.
The briefing also reviewed the Conflict Prevention, Crisis Response and Resilience (CPCRR) project being implemented in Katsina and Zamfara with funding from the European Union.
IOM is implementing the project with Mercy Corps and the Centre for Democracy and Development.
The programme covers selected local government areas in Katsina and Zamfara and focuses on conflict prevention, crisis response, resilience and community stabilisation.
Jean Nahesi Kutumbakana, an IOM programme official who presented details of the intervention, said the project had achieved about 87 per cent of its planned activities, with outstanding work expected to be completed before the 18-month intervention ends.
He said 80 community peace and resilience committees had been established in Katsina and Zamfara, while 1,700 community members and other stakeholders had been trained in conflict prevention, early warning and early response.
IOM also engaged 160 key informants along transhumance routes and said it had monitored 41 movements involving 2,405 herders and 60,044 livestock.
Eleven early-warning and transhumance flow-monitoring reports have also been produced, Mr Kutumbakana said.
He explained that informants along livestock routes alert communities about approaching herders.
Where crops have not been harvested, communities can ask the herders to delay their movement until harvesting is completed, he said.
The arrangement is intended to prevent livestock from entering farms and triggering disputes between farmers and herders.
Mr Kutumbakana said community peace committees also pass information through technical and standing committees so that disputes can be addressed before they escalate.
