Borno: Indigenes, city residents pick pieces after the deluge

…State government in frantic efforts to normalise situation

As situation in the flood-ravaged Maiduguri and environs return to normal, the victims, governments and every other organisation having a stake in the management of the crisis, tell their own tales, some of them conflicting to each other.

Maiduguri, the capital of insecurity-ravaged Borno State, is fast creating a changing portrait of itself after the epic flood that deluged more than half of it, drowning scores, according to official sources, displacing over a million residents and crumbling over a billion-naira worth properties.

The flood, last September 10, which descended on the metropolis and its fringes, encompassing sections of Jere, Mafa and Konduga local government areas with the massive rage it contained for 30 years, resulted from the collapse of the embankment of Alau Dam, 15 kilometers away.

After the debilitating hardships the deluge visited on the traumatised population still grappling with a most-pathetic vulnerability and impoverishment orchestrated by the 15-year Boko Haram humanitarian crisis, residents seem steadily creeping back to what they termed as normal life.

Life in the Maiduguri metropolis is gradually bubbling back normal as residents, energised by the sheer resilience they cultivated in themselves over the terror years, struggle to pick the pieces of their lives, rebuild their lives and pull through survival.

BusinessDay carefully combed the affected areas of the metropolis, assessing the numerous efforts of the affected residents in their individual and communal capacities and on the broad rebuilding and rehabilitation programmes of the state government.

Babakura Zarami, a victim of recent floods who lives around Anguwa Doki area lamented that since September 10th, “the flood destroyed everything we had in the house. I got married last year; so, you could imagine what I am talking about. As it is now the little money Borno government assisted us with couldn’t buy television set not to talk about other things.”

Babakura explained that they have taken the disaster as an act of God because the magnitude of the devastation was beyond his comprehension, noting that the gift of life is paramount in the situation they found themselves.

“When we got back home to clean our house, I was weeping like a child because every single item my wife brought from her family was destroyed and the expenses was just too much for us to bear. As a faithful Muslim, I take it as the will of Allah,” he said.

Kumara Usman, another resident who lives at 505 Estate along Dikwa highway, narrated his ordeal, saying that after two months they are yet to get any assistance from the state government. He further said that the whole estate was submerged for almost three weeks which wreaked enormous havoc on the entire estate and its environs.

“Let me tell you the truth, four days ago, the flood disbursement committee came and gave relief items to the people in the estate, more than 50 percent didn’t go there to receive the items, because we are angry; some of us have spent more than N2million to fix our destroyed homes. The estate was in total ruin after the floods, soak away, water systems and electrical wirings were all destroyed.

“We haven’t received a penny, although they came to capture and later verified the data few days ago, as we speak, people are already frustrated and disappointed. Is two months not enough for the committee to support with whatever they wish?

“Many of us have nothing after the devastating floods. All our clothes, furniture, food stuff and many valuable things have gone. The current market price is scare and almost everyone in our estate is a civil servant, it is difficult to rebuild our homes because building materials are quite expensive. So, we appeal to the committee to expedite actions.”

Babakaka Usman, a bookseller at the popular post office, said they are yet to recover from the shock, as they are still counting their losses. He added that many booksellers suffered losses due to the nature of their business.

He appealed to the Zulum-led administration to ensure adequate support are given to the business community because they contribute to growth and development of the state by paying taxes.

He opined that the flood committee should speed up its process to support the small business owners because they are seriously going through tough times.

Chiroma Abdullahi, a butcher at Kashwa Shanu (Cattle Market), decried how the association lost animals worth millions of naira to the floods, noting that animals feed was equally destroyed which dashed their hopes.

“Believe me, many of our members are heavily indebted now. We lost many animals and their feeds worth hundreds of millions of naira; nobody has visited us to capture our data. It is excruciating and unbelievable that we are helpless. We are not even part of the conversation. This is sad! As you know, this market is the biggest cattle market in the northeast region. We are in dire need of assistance,” he begged.

Health services heavily impacted

Similarly, Prof. Sanusi Mohammed Ibahim, chairman, Medical Advisory Committee of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), said the hospitals got their own share of the devastation, as the hospital was seriously affected by the flood, and not just the equipment, but services, completely basic healthcare services came to a complete halt.

He disclosed that the flood caused a lot of damage to underground cables, because of the stagnant water, there was no way the light, either through generator or even through electricity distribution company, could be activated.

He further stated that there was no light in the hospital, there was no water to manage patients for the first few days after the flood receded, adding that key equipment were actually damaged, equipment ranging from the cancer center equipment, CT scan, among others.

“I’m talking about the cancer center, because it is one area that, up to this moment, months after the flood, we’ve not been able to get deeply reactivated our two advanced Linac machine, state-of-the-art equipment. Then we have two black therapy machines. We have CT scanner. We have a lot of equipment there. All of them have been damaged.

“And the experts and the manufacturers came to assess, and they said that the damage was actually beyond repairs, and that we needed to get new ones. And those new ones to get them, you know, they were obtained in foreign currency, dollars.

“So aside this, even basic equipment, basic working tools, as basic as BP apparatus, major measuring machines, as basic as they are, they were actually damaged as well. So, this actually affected service delivery. Thank God, we are coming out of it. We have been able to start basic care. And every day, you know, improvement keeps coming on.

“So, all of them were actually affected. So, what we started doing was, when the machine, the oxygen plant machine, was reactivated, we had to refill oxygen from there and move to some of these places, while we take our time to quickly fix them.

“So, the one we announced today is the reactivation of the manifold at the Child Institute so that we don’t need to move all the way from the oxygen plant with the oxygen to cylinders to communicate them,” he explained.

Opportunities for undesirable elements amid miseries

While the calamity has plunged millions into deep trauma and debilitating hardships, it has created vast opportunities for a multiplying population of undesirable elements to perpetrate heinous practices, apparently due the persistent economic hardships bedevilling the state.

The ceaseless flow of relief items to the genuine victims of the flood offered an opportunity for yet thousands of other residents of the metropolis who were not in any way affected by it, to disguise as victims. They flood the two camps to to partake in whatever items that are shared.

BusinessDay reports that security agents, members of the civilian JTF, and hunters assisting them to ensure safety, peace and order at the camps and during the relief items distribution are, allegedly, accomplices in these corrupt practices. As soon as these security agents get wind of the arrival of relief supplies, they secretly send words to their relations, friends and other cronies, who are not victims, to troop to the camps to collect the relief items meant for the genuine victims.

The communities surrounding the Bakassi and Gubio camps have also been thrown into fear of criminal activities and other forms of insecurity associated with such unorganised convergences. With sections of the perimeter fences of the camps collapsed by miscreants’ unruly victims, suspicious and uncontrolled movements in and out of the camps, and in and around the communities have become rampant.

Surajo Garba, Northeast Zonal Coordinator National Emergency Management Agency, said in an effort to reduce complaints arising from the distribution process, the committee engaged the community leaders, faith-based leaders and organised civil society to reach out to those who reside in camps, requesting them to move back to their houses and give the details.

“So, we believe that the fraction of those that are in the two camps that remain in Bakassi and the Gubio camps are not the real victims, because we have asked them to go back to their homes so that they will give their details but they refused.

“As I said, we have asked them to return to their homes. If you are a genuine person that is affected by flood, you would be at place not in camps, even if it’s the land, if the house is not there, the land will be there for you to be captured by the enumerators. So, we believe, for anyone that is seen in those camps, they are not genuinely people that were affected by this flood disaster.

“I believe there are some steps that are going to be taken, but I do not want to preempt or speak on behalf of the chairman of the committee or the state government. However, based on the earlier advice that was given, I believe the committee, after completion of our assignment, which we believe should end anytime this week, or the next week, we are going to go to these camps, and we’ll request them to follow normal process where we would provide transportation and authenticate their status.”

He pointed out that the nature of damage is devastating, considering the fact that infrastructures were affected, public schools, hospitals and four markets. He added that the committee carried out an assessment, and that recommendations would be presented to the government in a couple of days.

“As at today, we have reached over 100,000 households, and all these 16 wards have been captured on the MMC, Jera and Mafa local government areas, we understand that in addition to houses and other infrastructure, we also have farmlands, you know, that have been washed away. We also have some people that are into aquaculture, maybe fishery, poultry, cattle markets, you know. So, the data of this people, I think, is not readily available.

“Yes, water has receded in all areas, all the locations. I have mentioned, the three LGs, water has receded in all the homes. And the assessment that was carried out by the committee captured all locations that are affected, we have made pronouncements that people should go back to their homes for data capture and verification,” he said.

Government efforts

The state government has rolled out a broad programme of assessment, verification and relief for all individual and corporate victims of the flood, in its frantic efforts to rehabilitate the victims and enable them rebuild their lives.

It has established the relevant assessment, verification and relief disbursement committees as the potent instruments with which it hopes to achieve proper rehabilitation and reconstruction of the affected areas from the rubbles of the flood.

Dauda Iliya, Governor Babagana Zulum’s Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, gave the broad outlines of these efforts.

“We have 17 wards affected by this flood disaster, 11 in Maiduguri Metropolitan, four in Jere and two in Mafa. And what the assessment committee does is to go house-to-house to assess the level of devastation and also take stock of the victims in that house,” Iliya disclosed.

According to him, “We have to take all this data of the victims and data of the level of destruction of these houses, explaining, “The level of destruction is divided into three – minimal, partial and full destruction, and based on these categories, the support will be different.”

He further said that in collaboration with the Federal Government, through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the state government has already distributed over 100 trucks of relief items to the affected victims, as it continues to redeem pledges from individual, governments and corporate organisations.

“When we started the verification, there were lots of challenges that we’ve encountered. Number one is, you have people who, out of greed, try to claim the house that is not theirs, or to claim token that was given to somebody that is not his, or to fake even the tokens that were given to people,” he revealed.

The governor’s spokesman also said that through the payment committee, the government also encountered challenges.

“When it comes to payment, we have challenges, because some of the accounts are wallet accounts. So, maybe, the account was opened with the capacity of receiving only N50,000, and now that person will be given like N200,000,” he said, lamenting, “Such huge payments started bouncing back, so we had to go back to request them to give us conventional bank accounts.

“Secondly, there is mismatch in the names of the accounts. For instance, you go to a community. In that community, maybe, you have Babagana Mohammed there that is the account owner. Unfortunately, because of the nature of names in Babagana Mohammed, you can have 100 Babagana Mohammeds in that community. Maybe incorrect account numbers. Instead of 10 digits, they will give you 11 or nine.

“So, these are some of the challenges that we are facing, but thank God we have now addressed some of them because we have established a complaints committee where the victims will come and lodge their complaints, the genuineness of which will be verified through their data,” Iliya said.

The governor’s spokesman said the state government has encountered a little challenge on the redemption of pledges made by government, corporate organisations and individual philanthropists, saying out of the about N20 billion pledged, about N5 billion is yet to be redeemed.

He said that apart from the routine distribution of assorted relief items, structures affected by the flood have also been supported or their destroyed sections rebuilt.

“For example, the School of Health and School of Nursing, their hostels, and some students were affected by the flood. So, the committee now also intervened there. The committee also supported hospitals, both private and public, with items with non-food items, mainly non-food items, like, for instance, sanitary pads and some of these things that will be required by hospitals.

“The committee also take stock of traders affected by this flood disaster. I think there were four markets and other commercial areas that data have been taken, and they will also be supported based on the level of how their businesses were affected. So, it is all encompassing, business, families, and infrastructures.”

He said, generally, N10 billion was earmarked for the reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure, like bridges, roads and other critical infrastructure. Additional N10 billion was earmarked by the Borno State governments for disbursement to the flood victims.