Crisis of Threat or Crisis of Opportunity? Bringing Nigeria and Cameroon Together to Resolve Mass Migration

ABSTRACT

The Boko Haram Insurgency in Western Africa has displaced an estimated 3,4 million people across Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, and Niger. In January 2019 an estimated 30,000 Nigerians fled the town of Rann fearing a ‘visit’ by Boko Haram. Such occurrences place an additional strain on already strained relationships, as is the case with Nigeria and Cameroon. The reaction of Cameroon to the mass wave of migration has been dominantly realist, with desperate Nigerians being forced to return home. Such responses turn refugees into threats as soft targets and stateless persons, which worsens the situation and demands urgent attention. Drawing on existing literature via qualitative means, the author seeks to investigate how Nigeria and Cameroon could collaborate to transform a ‘crisis of threat’ into a ‘crisis of opportunity.’ The investigation finds that while collaboration will be challenging, displaced persons have considerable economic and political agency. Hence, a framework to assist both countries in turning their collective migration crisis into a crisis of opportunity is proposed to enhance formal bilateral cooperation on matters pertaining to displaced persons.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).