Shelter continued to be highlighted as a priority need by both IDPs and returnees alike, with assessment reports indicating that 43% of IDPs were living in host communities or in rented/donated houses and 57% living in displacement sites in camps and camp-like settings. UNHCR continued to respond to the crisis in North-East Nigeria by providing protection, reception services and assistance to IDPs. UNHCR prioritized construction of emergency shelters for IDPs in formal and informal camps in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States, due to new arrivals and decongestion of existing camps, as a result of immense gaps and military operations. The emergency shelter was designed as an emergency solution for quick response, appropriate for new arrivals and /or large influx, as it was quick to construct and cost effective. The emergency shelter consisted of a robust but basic timber frame with requisite fixings and tools, covered by UNHCR plastic tarpaulin. In 2019, UNHCR effectively responded to shelter needs of IDPs through partnership with the Ministry of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement and direct implementation in the three affected States, Borno, Adamawa and Yobe. UNHCR and its partners reached a total of 4,160 households of 20,800 internally displaced persons, with shelter assistance in the locations of a stadium (760 households), Teacher’s Village Camp (246 households), El-yakub (361 households), Shuwari 5 (250 households), Dalori 2 (20 households), Damboa (400 households), Bama (596 households), Ngamdu (300 households), Monguno (1,127 households) and Pulka (100 households). One of the major construction materials of emergency shelters covering the superstructure and the roof, namely the plastic tarpaulins, have a short lifespan of six months, coupled with severe weather conditions. UNHCR engaged in repairing the emergency and makeshift shelters in North-East Nigeria. As a result of heavy rains, sandstorms, anti-termites and short life span of plastic tarpaulins, some of the emergency shelters which were provided to the affected population, in 2016 through 2018, needed urgent improvements. Hence, a total of 3,660 households of 18,300 IDPs’ emergency shelters were repaired in order to improve their living standards of displaced persons in the locations of a stadium camp (100 households), Bakasi (1,200 households, Dalori 1 (400 households), Dalori 2 (400 households), Gwoza (294 households), Damboa (300 households) and Dikwa (966 households). In 2019, a total of 7,820 households of 39,100 individuals were reached with UNHCR Shelter intervention in North-East Nigeria, leaving many displaced persons in reception centres, host communities, congested camps and camp-like settings, while some lived in open spaces.
