North-east Nigeria, has since 2009 remained the epicenter of the Boko Haram conflict, which has mutated, caused wanton loss of lives and destruction of property, loss of livelihoods, economic crisis and large-scale displacements, internally and externally, with multidimensional impacts on neighboring countries of Chad, Niger and Cameroon. A lot of communities affected by the conflict are contaminated with remnants of explosive ordnances. Lately, there have been an increase in the waves of attacks on military formations and deployment of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) by the Boko Haram/ISWAP elements on highways and communities across some local government areas in Borno, where there was also an unfortunate explosion at the armory in Giwa Barracks, Maiduguri on April 30, 2025. There are also Civil War explosive remnants in the South-east while various grades of explosives are used for mining activities across the country, including in the North-west, where there appears to be a correlation between mining activities and violent conflict.
All these, more than ever, signpost the import of the establishment of the National Mine Action Center (NMAC) Nigeria in May 2024 with the support of the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS). The Center, headquartered in Maiduguri, is under Nigeria’s Ministry of Defense, as the focal point to manage and coordinate Mine Action efforts, to mitigate the threats of explosives from remnants of war or conflict in the country. Previously, Nigeria had declared mine-free status as a party to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC) on September 27, 2001. But the declaration of new mined areas in 2019 due to the Boko Haram conflict and the subsequent request for support from the UN to activate Mine Action services in the country led to the extension of Article 5 (Mine Clearance) obligations for Nigeria under the Convention.
The UNMAS, as a unit in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations leads global coordination, and implementation of Mine Action services. It provides leadership, operational and technical supports, and policy directions and standards on explosive ordnances. All UN-member countries who have experienced conflict or war have the obligation to commit to explosive ordnance clearance. Explosive ordnances (EOs) refer to all types of explosive objects or munitions. Examples of EOs that can be used by state actors like the Nigerian military during military operations against enemies of the state include: ammunitions, projectiles, mortar shells, cluster bombs, and hand grenades. Non-state actors like the Boko Haram/ISWAP elements have repeatedly deployed IEDs in different forms and also launched several attacks against the Nigerian military and multinational forces, communities, and organizations using different devices and tactics.
To put this into perspective, road planted IEDs, person-borne IEDs and vehicle-borne IEDs remain the primary weapon of choice used by the insurgents. From 2016 to February 2023, a total of 2,468 people were injured (including 1,478 civilians) and 1,490 (including 842 civilians) were killed by explosive ordnances, according to UNMAS Nigeria. The resettlement of most internally displaced persons in communities in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY) states also make them vulnerable to explosive accidents. Additionally, since insurgents use acts of terrorism to achieve high impact casualties and instill maximum fear in populations, there are possibilities that apart from explosive remnants that would be left in locations of IED explosions and attacks on military formations, the insurgents could also be ‘booby trapping’ vicinities of attacked military formations, communities along their routes or under their control, roads and public buildings or leaving behind unexploded or abandoned ordnances. Unexploded ordnances (UXOs) are explosives that fail to explode as intended while those that are left behind are known as abandoned ordnances (AXOs), which were never used or left behind to explode later and cause high death tolls or life-threatening injuries.
In the Giwa Barracks April 2025 armory explosion incidence, people were also exposed to explosive ordnances. As a resident around the vicinity, this writer can corroborate that Nigerian military operatives made repeated rounds, several days from the incident, to decontaminate the vicinity and recover several explosive remnants that were projected by the explosion from the armory. Many projectiles pierced through and destroyed rooftops, ceilings and walls of residences and other buildings, and some can travel far away and could still be buried or lurking in nearby uncompleted buildings, river bank or bush paths.
Over the years, it has been observed that probably due to tactical reasons like the need to conduct stealth operations, slow and noisy nature of mine clearance vehicles (MCVs) in the fleet of the Nigerian military and the need to ward off enemy detection during special operations, or other operational reasons, the Nigerian military Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit often use Vallon-technology light handheld explosive detectors for explosive clearance activities in North-east Nigeria. Safe and effective deployment of MCV is a core component of the UN International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) framework that should be observed at the epicenter of the Boko Haram insurgency during mine clearance activities. This is a yardstick that would determine how the UN will rate Nigeria’s compliance with the IMAS Review Board framework on mine clearance. A random search on the internet shows that the price of an MCV depends on its features, capabilities and manufacturer, but UN-approved MCVs can cost an average of $148,000. It is important to ensure that any MCV that would be deployed by the NMAC Nigeria is equipped with state-of-the art modern technology, to complement the weaknesses of the MCVs in the fleet of the Nigerian military.
Meanwhile, prior to the establishment of NMAC Nigeria, international Mine Action partners like UNMAS, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in collaboration with other Mine Action partners, and funding mechanisms like the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), UKaid, European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), JapanAid, UK Government’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), among others, have offered critical life-saving assistance through humanitarian assistance, capacity building and training for military and paramilitary personnel, community volunteers, victims, communities, and other organizations in North-east Nigeria. In 2024 alone, UNOCHA provided $19.3million from the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF). This country-based basket fund is a rapid and flexible mechanism to support national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and UN agencies to respond to the most pressing or critical emergencies in the country. The UNMAS often identifies and recommends national Mine Action partners to access funds from UNOCHA for Mine Action interventions. The ICRC has supported the Nigerian Red Cross to provide emergency and rehabilitation assistance for explosive ordnance victims, including setting up a rehabilitation center to provide treatment and prostatic. The UNMAS Nigeria has conducted Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) for over 1.8 million men, women, youth, humanitarian workers, government officials, health workers, civil society organizations (CSOs), community volunteers, national and state authority reps, including Training of Trainers (ToTs), alongside media campaigns, to enhance sustainability and national ownership. They have also conducted 338 non-technical surveys (NTS), including 60 persons from government institutions and CSOs in 19 LGAs of the BAY states to enable safe movement, resettlement and access to livelihoods, agricultural land and other socio-economic resources. There were also training and equipment for IED disposal, first responder and emergency trauma management, to strengthen national capacity to reduce the impact of explosive ordnance. A total of 26 Police officers and 117 Police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) personnel also received training on first aid assistance during IED disposal, while the Police received 20 emergency trauma kits, and 16 ToTs for IED disposal and medical first aid.
It is instructive to highlight that most foreign development partners are winding up due to the funding gap in international development interventions. The import is that Mine Action interventions, like the ones implemented before the establishment of NMAC will be drastically impacted too, while the ones already conducted are just a drop in the ocean and insufficient. So, Nigeria needs to take ownership to extensively step down these Mine Action interventions using multiple approaches, considering that every military or paramilitary personnel and every person in Nigeria’s Mine Action Area of Responsibility requires knowledge and/or skill to mitigate the risks from explosives.
The decontamination of land from explosives i.e.: mine action services cover five pillars of responsibilities, viz: Risk education, victim assistance, advocacy, clearance of mines and unexploded ordnances, and stockpile destruction. These pillars, which are multisectoral, diverse and wide work together to reduce the impact of landmines and explosive remnants of conflicts or war on civilian populations. Mine Action services are capital intensive and require streams of sustained funding, hardware, technical and operational supports.
The ability of NMAC Nigeria to actualize its mandate is threatened by funding challenges without any budget. The Center currently operates from a temporary office provided by the Borno State Government. Operational tools and equipment, vehicles for Mine Action clearance, monitoring and surveillance are yet to be deployed, and all these are mandatory for the successful implementation of its 5 pillars. However, within one year of its existence, despite funding challenges, NMAC Nigeria has recorded resounding successes under the leadership of its pioneer National Coordinator, Barr. Khalifa Mohammed Lawan. Alongside key partners, NMAC Nigeria is developing the National Mine Action Strategy, and in partnership with UNMAS, it has drafted and submitted Article 5 (Mine Clearance) extension request for another 4-year period to consolidate its achievements on surveys, mine clearance, risk education and victim support. It has also drafted the National Mine Action Domestication Law in partnership with the ICRC and submitted it to the Ministry of Defense, and drafted a Strategic Work Plan in partnership with UNMAS. In partnership with international NGOs, NMAC Nigeria is currently drafting the National Mine Action Legislation for Nigeria, in preparation for its official adoption by the National Assembly, to solidify its frameworks of existence as a national institution backed by law. NMAC has also requested for permission to commence humanitarian demining activities in the most affected LGAs of the BAY states, to coordinate land release activities. It will continue to hold stakeholder meetings with government agencies, security outfits, international and national NGOs, to strengthen coordination efforts.
At the international scene, as the Chair, Africa Mine Action, NMAC Nigeria led the African delegation to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC) Intersessional Meetings, to sign the APMBC Review Declaration at the APMBC Review Meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia in November, 2024. It also attended the 28th International Meeting of Mine Action National Directors and United Nations (NDM-UN28) meeting in Geneva organized by UNMAS from April 9 -11, 2025. And in partnership with stakeholders, the Center successfully organized the inaugural International Mine Action Awareness Day (IMAAD 2025) in Maiduguri on April 4, 2025.
The NMAC Nigeria has also attracted tangible Mine Action support commitments from international partners like the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the British Government and Mine Advisory Group (MAG). It is hoped that these shall manifest in the coming months alongside the training on International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) from UNMAS to enable the Center to take control of the coordination of Nigeria’s Mine Action central database from UNMAS.
Therefore, it is imperative for the federal and affected state governments, Nigeria’s Ministry of Defense and other stakeholders, to as a matter of urgency, garner the political will to proactively support NMAC Nigeria towards actualizing its mandate of managing and coordinating Mine Action in Nigeria, since the primary responsibility of any government is to guarantee the safety of lives and property and no amount is considered too much to spend in saving just one life. The National Assembly should speed up the passage of the National Mine Action Legislation and National Mine Action Domestication Law. These would make it mandatory for government to appropriate funds and ensure the successful implementation of the Center’s mandate. Government must understand that successful mine clearance is a pre-cursor to any development and a core component of Mine Action service. Lands have to be declared safe for clearance, residential and public building reconstruction, agriculture, commerce and movement of goods and services, among others. And all these will determine the successes of reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) by governments in the epicenters, especially of the BAY states and the pace with which we return to normalcy and the sustainability of development.
Sharafa Dauda, PhD is a communication and development expert/researcher at the University of Maiduguri. He can be reached via [email protected]
