The 5th Lake Chad Governor’s Forum in Maiduguri, January 31, 2025 / Image by @Ndende 235. Used with permission.

The Lake Chad Basin, a major body of water in Northern Central Africa that borders Chad, Nigeria, Niger, and Cameroon, faces a relentless confluence of challenges that are putting water security at risk in the region. With a ballooning population, armed insurgents, climate crisis, dwindling natural resources, and huge socio-economic disparity, the Lake Chad region has endured a complex plethora of crises since 2009. 

The Lake Chad “Basin” covers almost eight percent of the African continent, spreading over the seven countries of Algeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Libya, Niger and Nigeria. This region, which once thrived on commerce and agriculture, has, over the years, become a theater of war and displacement. 

At its height, Boko Haram, a self-proclaimed jihadist group that has been terrorizing northeastern Nigeria, Mali, Cameroon, and Chad for the last 20 years, controlled large areas in northeast Nigeria and directly threatened cities like Chad’s capital N’Djamena, Cameroon’s far north region capital Maroua, and southeast Niger’s Diffa.

A push for collaboration

In March 1994, the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) set up the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) — comprising Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, joined by Benin — to combat insecurity in the region. In 2015, it went through a remodel to launch military counter-offensives against Boko Haram. Since its inception, the LCBC has continued to serve as a platform for cross-border cooperation, enabling member states to collectively tackle the challenges affecting the Lake Chad region.

Against this backdrop, the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), in collaboration with the Yobe state government, the African Union, the United Nations Development Programme, and other international development partners, came together at the fifth Lake Chad Basin Governor’s Forum in late January for critical dialogue and coordinated action to restore stability, cross-border trade, and security in the Lake Chad Basin. 

Held under the theme “Rebuilding the Lake Chad Basin: Consolidating Gains, Commitment to Peace, Cross-Border Cooperation, Security, and Sustainable Development for a Resilient Community,” the forum drew eight governors from Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and the Republic of the Niger, and other local and international humanitarian organizations and communities.

On February 29, 2024, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a false-color image of Lake Chad.  Image by MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC from Wikimedia Commons (Public domain).

The Lake Chad Basin

Historically, Lake Chad is one of the world’s largest freshwater bodies. Until the 1960s, it was the fourth-largest lake in Africa and the sixth-largest lake in the world. However, since the 1960s, the Lake has lost 90 percent of its surface area largely due to climate change and human-induced pressure. For over a decade, terrorism has disrupted millions of lives in the Lake Chad Basin and stifled economic growth. Conflict in neighboring regions has also driven vast amounts of people to the basin, further straining its resources.

As of August 2023, the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria hosted over 6 million affected individuals made up of internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees (former IDPs and returnees from abroad), and refugees (both in- and out-of-camp).

In September 2024, unprecedented rainfall led to catastrophic flooding in the Lake Chad region resulting in loss of lives and displacement of millions across the region. 

Home to 45 million people, the region is heavily reliant on humanitarian assistance to combat the rising food insecurity ravaging its people.

The 5th Lake Chad Governors Forum

Hosted from January 29–31, by the Yobe state government in Maiduguri, Nigeria, the forum highlighted the Regional Strategy for Stabilization, Recovery, and Resilience (RS-SRR) — a blueprint designed to rebuild communities, strengthen governance, and promote sustainable development in the Lake Chad region.

According to the Executive Secretary of the LCBC, Ambassador Mamman Nuhu, the RS-SRR framework has enabled the safe return of more than one million displaced persons, rehabilitated essential infrastructure, and facilitated the demobilization of over 100,000 individuals formerly associated with Boko Haram in territories previously under their control.

Until December 2023, Borno state, which was once the terror stronghold of Boko Haram and other armed insurgent groups, hosted 874,213 IDPs in 62 formal and 158 informal internal displacement camps across the 17 Local Government Areas (LGAs), including Chibok where 276 school girls were infamously abducted in 2014. As of December 2024, all official Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in the state have been closed. 

Stabilization efforts to restore stability, cross-border trade, and security in the Lake Chad Basin have continued on a large scale. According to Njoya Tikum, Director of the UNDP Sub-Regional Hub for West and Central Africa, “the UNDP has mobilized over USD 200 million to support Lake Chad stabilization programs since 2018.” He added that while more than 2,000 individuals have been successfully resettled through their programs, the scale of the crisis demands more sustainable solutions.

In an interview conducted in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria, Adesewa Olofinko from Global Voices explores the resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in a chat with the federal representative of the affected regions of Damboa, Gwoza, and Chibok constituency. 

Adesewa Olofinko (AO): Can you introduce yourself?

Honorable Ahmadu Jaha (HAJ): My name is Honorable Ahmadu Jaha. I represent Chibok, Damboa and Gwoza federal constituency including the 84 not-yet-recovered Chibok girls. I’m from the National Assembly.

AO: Is it true that all displacement camps in Borno State have been closed?

HAJ: All official displacement camps are closed but there are still existing displacement camps that are not official where people have to take refuge either under a tree or under self-organized IDP camps. Even recently, about four communities in my constituency were attacked in Chibok leaving more people displaced. They are now taking refuge in public buildings in Chibok and some satellite communities.

AO: Do you have an estimate of the number of people in such unofficial displacement camps?

HAJ: Based on the information provided by the council chairman, we have more than 100,000 people taking refuge in Chibok, Mbalala, and other satellite towns of Chibok that were displaced just last week. And if you go to Gwoza, we have about four unofficial camps, we call them unofficial because the people have to force themselves to remain there. But the governor of Borno State is doing everything to return them to their homes. 

Beyond humanitarian aid

The Lake Chad Basin Governors’ Forum serves as a model for regional cooperation, where shared interests outweigh individual political differences. One of the forum’s most pressing debates revolved around moving beyond humanitarian aid to economic resilience. 

As the resolutions from the forum reaffirmed to advancing stabilization efforts in the region, it also committed to strengthening support for women and young people to ensure their needs and priorities are effectively addressed. With the unveiling of the Special Multi-Partner Delivery Fund (SMDF), the Nexus Funding Facility (NFF), and other regional funding initiatives aimed at driving a lasting change, it remains to be seen whether the Lake Chad region can truly reclaim its place as a lifeline for millions.