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Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Tiv origin in Taraba State continue to endure severe hardship, including near-daily threats from bandits and worsening food insecurity, according to a recent Arise News report that has gained traction on social media.
The displaced communities, largely from Tiv settlements affected by recurring attacks, are reportedly struggling with limited access to food, clean water, medical care, and basic shelter. Many families have been forced to flee their farmlands repeatedly, leaving them unable to cultivate crops or engage in normal livelihood activities.
Eyewitness accounts and footage shared online show visibly distressed IDPs, including elderly men and women, describing how constant fear of renewed violence has compounded their hunger crisis. Some residents lamented that survival now depends on sporadic relief supplies, begging, or risky returns to abandoned farms.
The Arise News segment, widely circulated by social media users including Slow Pee SRG, highlighted the dual burden of insecurity and starvation facing these communities. Bandit groups are accused of targeting farms, destroying crops, and preventing safe return, effectively turning once-productive areas into no-go zones.
While humanitarian agencies and local authorities have provided some assistance, IDPs interviewed expressed frustration over the slow pace of intervention and the absence of lasting security measures to allow them to return home and resume farming.
The situation has reignited calls for urgent federal and state action to address both the root causes of the displacement—persistent banditry and herder-farmer clashes—and the immediate humanitarian needs of thousands of affected Tiv families in Taraba State. Observers warn that without decisive intervention, the combination of hunger and insecurity risks deepening a full-blown humanitarian crisis in the region.
