A Reflection of Humanitarian Responses to Violent Extremism in South West Nigeria

In Nigeria, while manifestations and humanitarian implications of violent extremism in the Northern parts have gained huge scholarly and policy-driven attentions, the South West is portrayed to be "peaceful". Also, the viewpoints of victims who require humanitarian interventions from violent attacks were sparingly analysed. The South West, being the access route to the expansive markets across West Africa, has recently been under attack by violent extremists. It is, therefore, expedient to identify these forms of violent extremism, the impacts on the victims, and the extent of humanitarian interventions. This paper is a qualitative, case study research that concentrates on Ogun State and is framed around the concept of humanitarian diplomacy. Information was sourced primarily from key informants and in-depth interviews of purposively selected stakeholders and secondarily from periodicals and the Internet. All data were content-analysed, using a thematic style. Findings showed rising violence and harmful effects on victims with disproportionately low government-related humanitarian intervention.