The Sahelian northeastern region has seen the worst of tragedies. It has had to be walloped by a slew of ghoulish experiences. Very harrowing medley of macabre life voyages that rend the heart.
It has been the heart of a 15-year armed rebellion, led by implacable Boko Haram sect, that has seen thousands of lives wasted and millions displaced.
Life has been a hellish drudgery for the people in the region since 2009 when the hitherto peaceful Islamic group suddenly transmuted into an armed gang after the killing of their pioneer leader, Mohammed Yusuf. Their ranks have since been swelled by foreign fighters making life difficult for the people.
On top of this unsettling dreck of life, an unwelcome guest called disaster last Tuesday stole into the capital city of Maiduguri and obtruded upon its unprepared victims. The Alau Dam, impounding Ngadda River, suddenly burst its bank and emptied its raging volley,in a ferocious surge, into the state capital, burying more than half of the city.
The dam, located in the Konduga community,about 20 kilometers(12 miles)to Maiduguri city center, was said to have caved in due to the overwhelming surge of water from Ndagga River, which is a major tributary from River Yedzaram, as a result of heavy rainfalls. Alau Dam was built in 1986 to help Maiduguri farmers to practise irrigation.
The massive flooding, described by the authorities as the worst in that area in three decades,left buildings and infrastructure, including water-cum-sewage systems and bridges in utter ruins.
The flooding killed at least 37 persons. And this is a conservative estimate because an unaccountable number of children were reportedly swept away by the furious floodwaters, while many others drowned.
The state government said about one million people were altogether affected one way or the other, 414,000 of whom were displaced. Many are still searching for members of their families and relations that remain missing.
People had to use canoes to access their homes in many instances. Some perched on trees and many were on rooftops. People were clinging unto any strands they can hold to escape the rage of floodwaters.
The devastating floods also sacked the Sanda Kyarimi Park Zoo. Many animals, including snakes and crocodiles, were seen swimming in the floodwaters. Officials said the flood either killed or washed away about 80 per cent of the animals in that zoo. “Some deadly animals like crocodiles and snakes have been washed into our communities,” a terse statement emerged from the zoo’s authorities, warning residents to be careful.
The floodwaters also brought down the perimeter fence of the Maiduguri Correctional Center, leading to the escape of at least 200 inmates, including controversial cleric, Rev King, who has been on death row since 2015. Some insurgents’ commanders and other hardened criminals were said to be among those who have escaped. A manhunt has been launched for them and only three of the fleeing inmates had been recaptured as at press time.
The monumental tragedy has foisted a serious humanitarian crisis on the people and government. First, there are fears of imminent outbreak of infectious diseases among the people as graveyards in the city have been submerged. Worst still, hospitals, including the Maiduguri University Teaching Hospital, the largest medical facility in the northeast,with 1,305 bed spacing, were also flooded. The authorities need to prepare for medical emergencies by rallying aides from outside the state.
Mercifully, Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, a professor of Agriculture, has said that some of the funds received by donation would be used to design long-term strategies to cushion the effects of the flooding. This, according to him,would include raising a health committee to monitor potential disease outbreaks and mitigate their effects.
Second, the people need immediate truckloads of food aides from as many places as possible to ameliorate punishing starvation. For an area that already has a lot of its dwellers in Internally Displaced Persons(IDP) camps all round, relying on “handouts” in form of periodic relief materials, the situation has accentuated the deadly pangs of hunger. Yelps for food are the common songs among the larger population.
Besides, most of the markets in the city were also submerged. And according to emergency of, “most of the food items stored in those markets have been flooded and totally destroyed” and the little that is available “will not be enough to feed the huge numbers of people displaced by this disaster.”
Already, farmers in the area have been targeted by insurgents with many killed in their farms. One of the most horrendous of those killings was the decapitation of 30 farmers in one fell swoop some six years ago. Reduced cultivation arising from insurgency has been fingered as one of the causes of the food crisis the nation is currently experiencing.
Maiduguri has been a ‘mecca’ of a sort since the incident, as highly placed individuals keep seeping in for solidarity visits. Sympathy messages, many accompanied with donations of aides, both in cash and kind, have also been streaming in. Governor Zulum has himself been up and doing. He had gone round distributing food items and N10,000 to the displaced victims as a temporary measure to cushion the effect of the flooding. He promised to follow up with medium-term and long-term measures soon, as noted earlier.
Already, the Federal Government has dolled out N3billion to each of the 36 states, including Borno, to tackle the menace of flooding in their states. Vice-President Kashim Shettima, who announced the figure in Niger State, said some severely affected states like Borno, Sokoto, Niger, Bayelsa and Jigawa, would get more bailout funds soon to fight the menace.
Governors too stood up to be counted. Governor Abdulraman AbdulRasaq of Kwara State and Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum(NGF) last week led some of his colleagues in a solidarity visit to their Borno counterpart, Prof. Zulum. Many of the governors were believed to have made some undisclosed sums as donations for the flood victims.
“Today, I led my colleagues at the Nigerian Governors Forum to Maiduguri, Borno State, where we assessed the impact of the recent flooding that has displaced thousands of residents in the state. It is a huge humanitarian crisis, which requires that we all rally around the victims,” Governor AbdulRasaq commented in a post on X on behalf of his colleagues.
He added: “The NGF stands in solidarity with the government and residents of the affected area. We commend the swift efforts of the Federal Government and state’s authorities to bring immediate succour to the victims.”
The business mogul, Aliko Dangote, was part of the action too, having donated a total of N1.5billion to the flood victims.
It is shocking that the relevant agencies were still caught napping, even after they were warned ahead about the flooding. “About two weeks ago, we issued a national red alert and every year, we issue a national flood outlook showing this is how the flood will be,” an official of the National Hydrological Services Agency(NHSA) was quoted as saying.
Let every state government, especially of high risk states and response agencies like the National Emergency Management Agency(NEMA) be more heedful henceforth of warnings from NiMET to avert the reoccurrence of tragedies of this magnitude.
Already, another red flag has been waved by the Federal Ministry of Water and Sanitation, that all concerned must take seriously. “The attention of Nigerians is hereby drawn to the probable river flooding on rivers Niger and Benue and some of their tributes. The daily flow on these rivers indicates significant increase inflow levels tending towards RED alert,” the minister, Engr. Prof. Joseph Terlumun, warned on Friday.
He added: “This warning means that large volume of water is moving through our rivers down to the delta region. Therefore, we should increase vigilance on all ramifications and step up proactive measures to address any eventual flooding events in the southern part of the country.”
Let all the states in the delta region take maximum precautions and immediately put in place flood-control measures to avoid another disaster. Agencies concerned should,in addition,mount sensitization campaign on state and local media to admonish the locals against careless practices like blocking drainage channels.
Again, state governments are enjoined to judiciously utilize the N108 billion flood bailout just sent to all the 36 states by the Federal Government and the ecological funds being received from the Federation Account from time to time to tame the rage of flood and avert recurrent disasters.
It has been the heart of a 15-year armed rebellion, led by implacable Boko Haram sect, that has seen thousands of lives wasted and millions displaced.
Life has been a hellish drudgery for the people in the region since 2009 when the hitherto peaceful Islamic group suddenly transmuted into an armed gang after the killing of their pioneer leader, Mohammed Yusuf. Their ranks have since been swelled by foreign fighters making life difficult for the people.
On top of this unsettling dreck of life, an unwelcome guest called disaster last Tuesday stole into the capital city of Maiduguri and obtruded upon its unprepared victims. The Alau Dam, impounding Ngadda River, suddenly burst its bank and emptied its raging volley,in a ferocious surge, into the state capital, burying more than half of the city.
The dam, located in the Konduga community,about 20 kilometers(12 miles)to Maiduguri city center, was said to have caved in due to the overwhelming surge of water from Ndagga River, which is a major tributary from River Yedzaram, as a result of heavy rainfalls. Alau Dam was built in 1986 to help Maiduguri farmers to practise irrigation.
The massive flooding, described by the authorities as the worst in that area in three decades,left buildings and infrastructure, including water-cum-sewage systems and bridges in utter ruins.
The flooding killed at least 37 persons. And this is a conservative estimate because an unaccountable number of children were reportedly swept away by the furious floodwaters, while many others drowned.
The state government said about one million people were altogether affected one way or the other, 414,000 of whom were displaced. Many are still searching for members of their families and relations that remain missing.
People had to use canoes to access their homes in many instances. Some perched on trees and many were on rooftops. People were clinging unto any strands they can hold to escape the rage of floodwaters.
The devastating floods also sacked the Sanda Kyarimi Park Zoo. Many animals, including snakes and crocodiles, were seen swimming in the floodwaters. Officials said the flood either killed or washed away about 80 per cent of the animals in that zoo. “Some deadly animals like crocodiles and snakes have been washed into our communities,” a terse statement emerged from the zoo’s authorities, warning residents to be careful.
The floodwaters also brought down the perimeter fence of the Maiduguri Correctional Center, leading to the escape of at least 200 inmates, including controversial cleric, Rev King, who has been on death row since 2015. Some insurgents’ commanders and other hardened criminals were said to be among those who have escaped. A manhunt has been launched for them and only three of the fleeing inmates had been recaptured as at press time.
The monumental tragedy has foisted a serious humanitarian crisis on the people and government. First, there are fears of imminent outbreak of infectious diseases among the people as graveyards in the city have been submerged. Worst still, hospitals, including the Maiduguri University Teaching Hospital, the largest medical facility in the northeast,with 1,305 bed spacing, were also flooded. The authorities need to prepare for medical emergencies by rallying aides from outside the state.
Mercifully, Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, a professor of Agriculture, has said that some of the funds received by donation would be used to design long-term strategies to cushion the effects of the flooding. This, according to him,would include raising a health committee to monitor potential disease outbreaks and mitigate their effects.
Second, the people need immediate truckloads of food aides from as many places as possible to ameliorate punishing starvation. For an area that already has a lot of its dwellers in Internally Displaced Persons(IDP) camps all round, relying on “handouts” in form of periodic relief materials, the situation has accentuated the deadly pangs of hunger. Yelps for food are the common songs among the larger population.
Besides, most of the markets in the city were also submerged. And according to emergency of, “most of the food items stored in those markets have been flooded and totally destroyed” and the little that is available “will not be enough to feed the huge numbers of people displaced by this disaster.”
Already, farmers in the area have been targeted by insurgents with many killed in their farms. One of the most horrendous of those killings was the decapitation of 30 farmers in one fell swoop some six years ago. Reduced cultivation arising from insurgency has been fingered as one of the causes of the food crisis the nation is currently experiencing.
Maiduguri has been a ‘mecca’ of a sort since the incident, as highly placed individuals keep seeping in for solidarity visits. Sympathy messages, many accompanied with donations of aides, both in cash and kind, have also been streaming in. Governor Zulum has himself been up and doing. He had gone round distributing food items and N10,000 to the displaced victims as a temporary measure to cushion the effect of the flooding. He promised to follow up with medium-term and long-term measures soon, as noted earlier.
Already, the Federal Government has dolled out N3billion to each of the 36 states, including Borno, to tackle the menace of flooding in their states. Vice-President Kashim Shettima, who announced the figure in Niger State, said some severely affected states like Borno, Sokoto, Niger, Bayelsa and Jigawa, would get more bailout funds soon to fight the menace.
Governors too stood up to be counted. Governor Abdulraman AbdulRasaq of Kwara State and Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum(NGF) last week led some of his colleagues in a solidarity visit to their Borno counterpart, Prof. Zulum. Many of the governors were believed to have made some undisclosed sums as donations for the flood victims.
“Today, I led my colleagues at the Nigerian Governors Forum to Maiduguri, Borno State, where we assessed the impact of the recent flooding that has displaced thousands of residents in the state. It is a huge humanitarian crisis, which requires that we all rally around the victims,” Governor AbdulRasaq commented in a post on X on behalf of his colleagues.
He added: “The NGF stands in solidarity with the government and residents of the affected area. We commend the swift efforts of the Federal Government and state’s authorities to bring immediate succour to the victims.”
The business mogul, Aliko Dangote, was part of the action too, having donated a total of N1.5billion to the flood victims.
It is shocking that the relevant agencies were still caught napping, even after they were warned ahead about the flooding. “About two weeks ago, we issued a national red alert and every year, we issue a national flood outlook showing this is how the flood will be,” an official of the National Hydrological Services Agency(NHSA) was quoted as saying.
Let every state government, especially of high risk states and response agencies like the National Emergency Management Agency(NEMA) be more heedful henceforth of warnings from NiMET to avert the reoccurrence of tragedies of this magnitude.
Already, another red flag has been waved by the Federal Ministry of Water and Sanitation, that all concerned must take seriously. “The attention of Nigerians is hereby drawn to the probable river flooding on rivers Niger and Benue and some of their tributes. The daily flow on these rivers indicates significant increase inflow levels tending towards RED alert,” the minister, Engr. Prof. Joseph Terlumun, warned on Friday.
He added: “This warning means that large volume of water is moving through our rivers down to the delta region. Therefore, we should increase vigilance on all ramifications and step up proactive measures to address any eventual flooding events in the southern part of the country.”
Let all the states in the delta region take maximum precautions and immediately put in place flood-control measures to avoid another disaster. Agencies concerned should,in addition,mount sensitization campaign on state and local media to admonish the locals against careless practices like blocking drainage channels.
Again, state governments are enjoined to judiciously utilize the N108 billion flood bailout just sent to all the 36 states by the Federal Government and the ecological funds being received from the Federation Account from time to time to tame the rage of flood and avert recurrent disasters.
