The Nation Newspaper

Category: Northern Report

  • On Plateau hills of death

    On Plateau hills of death

    TRAVELLING to Jos, Plateau State capital, is a hill-climbing exercise. Imagine climbing a hill on foot and the stress, exhaustion and amount of energy involved. That is the what you experience travelling to this hilltop state called Plateau.

    There are three major routes through which travellers get to Jos: through Saminaka in Kaduna State; through Bauchi, and through Kafanchan in Kaduna State. Travellers from Nasarawa State can also get to Jos as well through Shendam, Quan-Pan, among other routes. But majorly, travellers from the northern parts of Nigeria can only get to Jos through Kaduna or Bauchi. Travellers from the southern parts of the country can only get to Jos through Forest, Kaduna State. But from whichever direction you come to Jos one must climb the hills.

    Of all the hills one must climb to get to Jos, that of Hauwan Kibo in Riyom Local Government Area is the most dreaded. The hills of Riyom are identified by a popular name known as “Hauwan Kibo”. They consist of about 20km of undulating hills surrounded by gullies and valleys. This steep hills are chained together with six dangerous bends. Speeding through them by any motorist is a confirmed suicide mission. The risk of climbing the hills is teh same as the hazards of descending them. Many lives have perished on the road due to loss of control while ascending or descending the hills.

    All motorists plying the route have to be alert as soon as they get to the stage, a little shift from total concentration can land you in one of the valleys along the hills. To minimise the loss of lives on the hills, government agencies and civil society organisations have had to place danger signals at every bend of the hills, or at every 100 meter along the hills. This is to alert motorists especially those plying the road for the first time. The measure is just to reduce crashes and but it does not stop accidents along the hills. It got to a level that the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) had to establish a branch office at the foot of the hills in Hauwan Kibo. The branch office is equipped with emergency response road safety personnel and a fleet of ambulance and mobile clinic vehicles. They are always involved in rescue operations.

    The dangerous nature of the road notwithstanding, the hills remain busy day and night with vehicular traffic for the simple reason that it is the only route to Jos through that axis and it is a single lane track of road. As a matter of fact, there is no road leading Plateau State that is a dual-carriage way. They are all single lane from whichever angle you may be coming from. The danger of the roads is often compounded with a scenario where heavy haulage-long vehicles popularly called ‘trailers’, Luxury buses, short buses compete for space on the narrow road with little cars like Honda Accord and it’s likes.

    Hauwan Kibo is a hill many heavy haulage trucks will hate to climb because their engine always fail them while climbing, causing the vehicle to roll backward and end up in the valley. Hence, trailer drivers who are not sure of the strength of their engine often stop over at Hauwan Kibo to allow the engine to cool off and gather enough strength to be able to climb successfully. It is not unusual to see numerous such long vehicles parking by the side of the road at any point in time. That was the story behind the settlement created at the foot of the hills in Hauwan Kibo; most of the trailer drivers do pass a night there before climbing the hills. Buying and seeking was created there. Mechanic and vulcanisers created shades there and food vendors found a market there as well. Of late, security agencies like the police and FRSC have also become members of the village as a matter of necessity. That was the origin of the small village called “Hauwan Kibo”.

    A resident of the village, Dauda Bala, “To me, the major cause of accident on the hill is the fact that the road is very narrow and is always busy; trailers cannot speed on the hill and small cars cannot wait behind trailers. As soon as the small cars try to overtake trailers, they have coalition with opposite cars. The road record several accidents in a day, at times in the night.

    Another resident, Adamu Bako said, “To stop accidents and untimely death on this road, government must consider to dualise this road; if the road is not dualised, these accidents will continue.”

    The risk of this federal road notwithstanding, it provides some relief to travellers and motorists. The hills stand as boundary between Plateau State and others. You feel the hot weather before you get to the hills and while climbing, but as soon as you get to the top of the hills, the cool weather of Jos appeared to welcome you to the serene climate of Jos. Every traveller cherished this natural change of weather. A first time traveller must notice the natural change and often ask why the sudden change of weather, and you will be told; this is Jos. The change of weather is the first thing to welcome you to the plateau. It provides a kind of relief from the stress of the long journey and the harrowing experience of the hills and valley of death that led you to the top.

    Travellers often live the car windows open to attract fresh air, but once they get to the natural boundary, they often request for windows to be closed to reduce to cold air coming in.

    Plateau is indeed a wonder of nature.

     

  • Fcta pays n3.6b staff salary monthly

    Despite the grievances of some staff of the FCT Administration, the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed has assured that the issues raised would be tackled as he revealed that the Administration has a staff strength of over 28,000 personnel and pays about N3.6 billion monthly as staff wages and salaries.

    Mohammed said this as some staff of the administration staged a peaceful rally over some welfare issues.

    The Minister, who was represented by the FCT Permanent Secretary, Mr. John Chukwu remarked that it was this high number of staff and huge monthly wage bill that informed the decision of the FCT

    Administration to embark on biometric exercise to ascertain that these monies are not being paid to ghost workers.

    Senator Mohammed reiterated that there is no way any reasonable Administration would embark on promotion exercise without first verifying the actual number of its workforce and ensuring that Manpower budget, vacancies, establishment and budget are provided to cater for the additional costs envisaged.

    “The FCT Administration wants to ensure that every dime spent is well spent with commensurate value in tune with the Transformation Agenda of the Federal Government”, he stressed.

    According to him, the FCT Administration under his supervision has never delayed staff salary as wages and salaries are always paid on or before the 25th of every month and urged the staff to instead commend him for such patriotic gesture.

    Senator Mohammed recalled that in the history of the FCT Administration it has only been his administration, which has paid 13th month salary in 2011; insisting that the records are there.

    The Minister stated that the biometric exercise has been concluded and over 3,000 staff, have cases to iron out; adding that to be sure that injustice is not done to any staff, those with cases have now been rescreened and cleared in batches while their salaries are restored accordingly.

    He emphasized that after all these done; the government would now embark on promotion exercise based on the vacancies declared and availability of funds.

    On long service award, the Minister revealed that his administration has already set aside some plots of land to be given to some staff with meritorious long service in the FCT Administration. He however,

    noted that some staff had already been allocated plots.

    The Minister disclosed that his administration is making arrangements with reputable Motor Companies in conjunction with financial institutions to organize a Car Loan Scheme for befitting staff.

    The Administration is also working on the allocation of Affordable Housing plots for the staff Cooperative Societies and the Unions to have befitting staffing housing scheme for its members, he added.

  • Charity foundation to hunt for talents in creative arts

    A non-governmental charity organisation known as James Ene Henshaw Foundation says it has concluded plans to scout out talents in the creative arts in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the six geo-political zones of the country as part of efforts to boost literary work.

    Secretary of the Foundation, Mr. James Henshaw Jnr told journalists at a press briefing in Abuja that the foundation would continue to encourage and promote emerging African writers, initiate and support projects where young people will engage in creative activities.

    He said the idea for the James Ene Henshaw Foundation stems from the playwright’s own concern for literary work that reflects the experiences of African audience because the Foundation is determined for the promotion and understanding of African culture through literature and drama.

    “Of particular concern too, was his desire for plays that could be read and produced by young people in schools and colleges. To continue this vision, the Foundation will seek to promote James Ene Henshaw’s vision by ensuring that his plays continue to be accessible to a wider and younger range of audiences, through the publication and performances of this plays,” he stressed.

    He observed that as the older generation of writers move on, there has been a dearth of new playwrights coming through to take their place, saying that among the main aims of the Foundation is to contribute to the development of new and emerging African writers through projects and events that will identify, nurture and promote young talents.

    “The art of dramatic writing does not operate in a vacuum, it requires a myriad of various other skills to enable the writer’s creative vision become a reality either on stage, the television or the film movie.

    “To this end, the Foundation will seek to provide resources for the professional training and development of other creative skills in the area of directing, stage management, set and lighting design and costume,” he stated.

    He equally revealed that the Foundation would seek to initiate a national yearly festival of drama to be held in Calabar, involving pro-fessional and amateur theatre companies from around the country, while the award for drama would be the flagship programme of the Foundation.

    “The aim of the award is to identify, support and nurture the next generation of African playwrights. The award will be run bi-annually and awarded to a young writer who can demonstrate unique talent and commitment to the art form. The bulk of the award will go to sponsoring the writer to work with an experienced thea-tre director or to participate in a writer-development programme. It will be expected that the writer will complete a new play during the 18-month period,” he added.

    The James Ene Henshaw Foundation is a charitable organisation dedicated to maintain and promote the literary legacy of James Ene Henshaw, as well as contribute to the development of the dramatic arts in Nigeria and the African diaspora at large.

    Other aims of the Foundation includes to maintain and promote the literary legacy of James Ene Henshaw, publish the collected works of James Ene Henshaw and to oversee the publication of a collection of the author’s plays in one volume.

     

  • ‘Nigeria producing more paddy rice’

    ‘Nigeria producing more paddy rice’

    Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said on Sunday that Nigeria was “producing more paddy rice than ever before“.

    Adesina, who made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said owing to the enhanced production of paddy rice, the Federal Government planned to end rice importation by the year 2016.

    The minister said that Nigeria was the largest importer of Thailand rice and that by so doing Nigeria was making its local farmers jobless while creating jobs for farmers in the Asian country.

    “We have set a target that in 2016, we will come to zero in terms of import because we are producing more paddy, what we just need to do is to process more of that paddy in to finished rice.

    “That is why Government is working very hard to get new integrated rice mills from China to have in the country so that we can mill all that.

    “So the issue is I want to make sure we are increasing the share of the domestic paddy being milled over time; that means that imported rice will go down as that goes up; I want to ensure Nigerians that we are well on track to be rice self-sufficient.“

    Adesina said because Nigeria had the capacity to be self-sufficient in rice production, the ministry would not relent in its effort to ensure that local farmers were encouraged to produce and protected from unnecessary competition.

    “It is not just about what you eat; it is about your future; and whether you are willing to sacrifice that future just for the convenience of the present.

    “If we cannot  grow rice I can understand that; but we can grow rice – upland rice, lowland rice, fadama rice, irrigated rice, and mangrove rice in the Niger-Delta; everywhere in this country, we can grow rice.“

    Adesina said 1.1 million tons of paddy rice was produced last dry season, and that if all of it was milled, it would meet at least 30 per cent of the rice the country was importing.

    He added that in the 2013 wet season, not less than 960,000 tons of rice was produced.

    According to the minister, government plans to produce 1.6 million tons of paddy rice in the 2013/2014 dry season.

    He acknowledged the challenge of inadequate infrastructure for both farmers and the millers in the country and said government would help to establish rice aggregation centres to ease millers’ access to paddy rice.

    He said the rice aggregation centers would clean the rice, bag, and standardise it, so that millers could buy tons of it at subsidised price to compensate for certain infrastructure challenges, including transportation.

    Adesina said the tariff policy was being reviewed to encourage investors in the rice project and to deal with the issue of importers and smugglers who he said, were not creating jobs in the country.

    The minister promised that the Federal Government would not abandon farmers in the country, saying that if the governments of other countries supported their farmers, Nigeria had no reason not to do otherwise.

    He said the government would guarantee the price of farm produce for farmers.

  • Are Kano groundnut pyramids gone forever?

    Are Kano groundnut pyramids gone forever?

    ONCE, the pyramids were a breathtaking sight in Kano. Apart from the sheer industry of the workers, there was art, if not science, in the groundnut heaps. The workmen laid down one bag after another and in time, they built such stunning structures towering in the sky, with the grandeur of the Egyptian pyramids.

    Such was their allure that they graced the national currency. now, the Kano pyramids are spoken of only in the past tense. Is it the end of the memorable heaps? Or have Kano producers simply found better and modern ways of doing what their forebears used to do?

    Minister of Agriculture Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has told an international audience that Nigeria will regain its leading status in groundnut production. Did he have Kano groundnut producers or their memorable pyramids in mind?

    For decades, Kano was already a bustling commercial city before the advent of the colonial masters. Economic and commercial activities thrived with the natives engaging in various crafts ranging from weaving, dying, embroidery as well as tanning.

    From the late 1950s came the boom of groundnut production in the ancient city. Businessmen like the late Alhaji Alhasan Dantata who had connections spanning the West African horizon, exploited the trans-Sahara trade routes to push their wares to the Gold Coast (now Ghana), Niger Republic, Cameroon, Senegal, Mali, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Libya and even beyond the shores of Africa, up to Saudi Arabia.

    There was also a heavy presence of foreign businessmen who visited the ancient city every quarter of the year or so for the purchase of such wares as locally made textiles, hides, groundnut and other agricultural products. Then, Kano, unlike other cities in northern Nigeria, witnessed tremendous patronage from both local and international businessmen.

    As a result of this, most of the foreigners, particularly, the Lebanese who came to do business in the city, decided to buy land, build houses and settle down. This was so because of the striking similarities in Kano’s culture with that of immigrants from the Middle East.

    The magnificent presence of the high pyramids has now given way to buildings while some commercial activities take place where the nuts once reigned supreme. But one might wonder what is it that we failed to do that killed the production of the one-time pride of the north. Curious minds have had unanswerable thoughts lingering in their minds.

    Could it be lack of patronage or poor policy on the part of the government? In the era of the groundnut pyramids after the discovery of oil, misfortune befell the groundnut farmers as a deadly disease destroyed their harvest which contributed in the disappearance of the pyramids. Worse, there was no government intervention.

    Recently, the Agriculture minister said an international gathering of agricultural researchers and policymakers in Patancheru, India that Nigeria would rebound as a leading groundnut producer in the world.

    According to the global food security index, Nigeria is rated the 80th among the top producers of protein food crops, ranking third in the production of groundnuts after India and China, but one wonders why groundnuts cannot earn valuable foreign revenue exchange for Nigeria.

    The production of groundnuts in large quantities actually gave the ancient city a coveted position in the economic map of the world as the wares were dramatically displayed in a pyramidal shape as a way of storage. Apart from being an economic asset, the famous Kano groundnut pyramids added spice to the tourist prowess of the state as visitors from the world over would visit the groundnut pyramids just for sight-seeing.

    But after the civil war, the military government of General Yakubu Gowon split the regions into 12 states and Kano became one of the states in the federation. Gradually, the symbol of groundnut pyramids began to die off. Today in Kano, there is no groundnut pyramid anywhere. Many writers have opined that since the effacement of the groundnut pyramids, Kano has lost its position as the highest groundnut producing state in the country, but a Kano-based groundnut farmer, Alhaji Yakubu Manzali disagreed with this notion, He said that the state has rather devised a modernised method of storing groundnut instead of arranging sacks of groundnut in a pyramidal form, a method which he described as not only archaic but out of fashion.

    Also speaking, Kano State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Hajia Baraka Sani noted that the fact people do not see sacks of groundnuts piled up in pyramidal form does not mean that Kano has lost its title as number one state in the production of groundnut.

    “When you see the re-appearance of groundnut pyramid in the physical form, it means we are in trouble. During the days of the groundnut pyramid, Kano served as a collection centre for the product; that was when we had famous traders like Alhaji Alhasan Dantata and their like; we had a vibrant commodity board in Kano when people served as middlemen between industrialists and the producers. And the products were being exported from here. But now, there are a lot of agro-allied industries in the state that make use of groundnut as raw material; the only thing that needs to be done is to expand the production output so that we can help our farmers to improve their yields so as to be able to meet up with the high market demand and to also help the farmers to fight diseases that could attack the seed. By doing this, the agro-allied industries will continue to boom while we will have even more than enough to export. However, the fact remains that we now use modern mechanisms to store and preserve groundnut in Kano.”

    The Nation, however, visited some of the sites where the groundnut pyramids were erected located in Brigade, Dan Agundi, Kofar Mazugal, Dawakin Kudu, Bebeji Those pyramids are no longer there as the one in Dan Agundi now bears the former Bank of the North structure, while the Kofar Mazugal Groundnut Pyramid site is now used by criminals and social miscreants as their hideouts in the night, while in the day time, it is used as a driving school field. The one in Brigade is occupied by Kano Oil Mill, a moribund local factory.

     

  • Kwali community decries infrastructure decay

    Kwali community decries infrastructure decay

    Residents of Kwaita community of Kwali area, a settlement between Kwali and Abaji township, have decried infrastructure decay in the area, just as they complained of government neglect over the years.

    Some of the residents expressed displeasure over the attitude of the construction company handling a 27 kilometre road, which was awarded to one ABDEC company since 2005 by former Kwali Chairman, late Samuel Gwamna.

    “Since this road has been awarded over ten years ago nothing tangible has been done by the contractor, if the contractor cannot handle the road it should be revoked,” said Ilu Gabriel a resident of the area.

    A woman who pleaded anonymity said: “they said this road will be repaired, our houses were demolished because of it, no compensation, till today the construction work is not completed.”

    Another road from Kwaita to Kujekwa a village under Kuje Area Council of about 3 hours drive is also in a bad state.

    Poor electricity supply and lack of safe drinking water is another source of worry to the community.

    ”At the other side of the road there, I think they had supply of electricity, eight years ago, go to Gengere and see the situation yourself,” said Emeneke, a shop owner in Kwaita.

    Another person who runs a business within the community said: “‘ Here we don’t have safe drinking water, we usually go to the stream to fetch drinking water and you know this is not good in the FCT’.”

    According to the former councillor Yebu Ward, Kwaita Abednego Aliyu several letters of complaint have been sent to the Minister of State FCT, Olajumoke Akinjide without response.

    His words: “I have written letters of complaints to the FCT ministers and National Assembly about the plight of Yebu ward all to no avail. I equally informed the immediate past chairman Joseph Shazin but he didn’t do anything about it and the current chairman is also aware of the challenges of Kwaita community”

    Hon. Aliyu therefore appealed both Kwali Chairman and the Ministers of FCT to safe the people of the community from their current ordeal.

    Kwaita access road which connects over 100 communities to Kujekwa, home town of Kuje Chairman, Shaban Tete and Nassarawa State, if completed would ease movement of farm produce to the city centre.

    The road would also serve as alternative route from that axis to Nasarawa State and Kuje area council.

    However all efforts by Abuja Review to speak with the Chairman Kwali Area Council, Ibrahim Daniel on the efforts of his administration to find remedy to the ugly development were futile.

  • Hospital in dire need of doctors

    Juma’are Magaji stood in the ward, surrounded by patients and their relations. He had about 50 of such patients to attend to alone. He is not a medical doctor, just a nurse who is supposed to provide care for patients. He is helpless, having been working several hours without rest. He had just finished attending to an emergency case when he returned to see another patient whose family were not happy with him. They felt that he has abandoned their brother to attend to others. His attempt at explaining to them that he did not abandon them, but went to attend to an emergency case was rebuffed. He is not a young nurse, but by his looks, he cannot be less than 60 years of age.

    A few metres away from where Magaji stood trying to calm down the patient relations is Theodora Ninyio, a nurse who is forced to work almost 24 hours monthly. Looking exhausted she is grateful to God for giving her a husband who understands her professional calling to save lives. Sometimes, her husband has to do the cooking and bring her food in the hospital because she has no time to go home because of the number of patients she has to attend to. She said that only four of them are assigned to work in the Labour ward where they take over 50 deliveries on a weekly basis. At the moment, only three of them are working, with one of them on sick leave. “I had to ask her to go because she has been looking for a child for several years after her marriage. Now she is pregnant and was diagnosed of threatened abortion. I don’t want her to lose the baby and so, I ask her to go on leave while I cover her duties for her. Sometimes, I work 24 hours throughout the month.

    “I thank God for the kind of husband he gave me. No husband will take what my husband is accommodating. Sometimes, he will be the one who will go the market and cook the food and even bring to me here”.

    The story of Magaji and Theodora is just a tip of the iceberg at the General Hospital, Makarfi. Owned by the Kaduna State government and designed to cater for Makarfi Local Government Area and some other surrounding local government, The Nation was informed that despite the shortage of medical personnel, it daily receives patients from local government areas in Kano and Katsina states. Investigations revealed that the hospital has only four medical doctors, one of which is presently on study leave, leaving three, including the Chief Medical Director to attend to all the patients that daily besiege the hospital in search of medical attention for their ailments. Apart from the three available doctors, the hospital has only 14 nurses in three different shifts to attend to all the patients in the all the departments of the hospital, including the HIV testing and counselling centre. When The

    When The Nation visited the hospital, only one nurse was on duty attending to the army of patients in the Out Patient Department (OPD). When asked why she was the only one attending to the patients, she said: “This number if even small because I have finished with many of them and they have left. The ones that have left are more than the ones you are seeing here”.

    At the HIV counselling and testing centre in the hospital, the staff on duty were so overwhelmed with work that they could not even acknowledge a greeting especially because they wanted to make quick use of the power from public supply to carry ou some vital test. One of the staff of the unit told The Nation that “this is what we go through here daily. With light available from PHCN, we have to carry out some vital tests because once the light goes, we will be helpless because we don’t have a stand-bye generating set. The one we have is down and there are no resources to fix it. Even when you are at home with your family and power is restored, you have to rush to the hospital to try and carry out some of these tests. We need not less than 12 staff to man these facilities at any given time. But sometimes, the Head of Department will have to come and man some of the machines. The situation is not encouraging for us at all. To make matters worse, there  is embargo on employment and so, more staff cannot be employed to join us here”.

    The Nation also discovered that the entire hospital has only one pharmacist who must work round the clock to meet the drug needs of the hospital. However, it was discovered that they have enough supply of drugs in their store, but some of the equipment being used are gradually becoming very obsolete and need urgent replacement. Although the Chief Medical Director of the hospital was not on seat when The Nation visited the place, it was observed that the hospital was clearly lacking in staff especially medical staff to deliver quality health care.

    Investigations revealed that for quality health care, a nurse is supposed to take care of between four and ten patients at every given shift of eight hours, while nurses working on the morning shift are supposed to more in number because of the increase in activities during the day. But that is not the case at the Makarfi General hospital which also lacks money to fuel or repair their generating set.

    Some of the workers of the hospital want the government to employ more staff nurses and other medical personnel to complement their work or transfer such staff from the hospitals in the metropolis to them. One of them said: “If you go to the hospitals in Kaduna, you will see that they are over-staffed there. Sometimes, you will see some nurses doing other things because the work load is low or there is no work at all. But that is not the case here. We also want to live and work in Kaduna, but since this is where we are for now, the best the government can do is to employ more staff for us. Please tell the governor that we are dying here trying to give quality health care to the people here. I know that the governor has a listening ear and I know that if you tell him, he will do something about it”.

    The Nation also noticed that apart from the fact that the roof of the hospital seems to have been changed in the not too distant past, the environment was untidy and not condusive for quality health care. Some of the doors and windows are threatening to give way, while the environment stinks. There was only one immoveable ambulance packed beside the administrative office as well as an old bus which The Nation could not ascertain whether or not it in good condition. One of the resident of town spoken to said “I am happy that you are here to see things for yourself. If we had come to Kaduna to tell you about the condition of this hospital, you will not believe us. But now that you are here, you have seen it. Let me say that with a hospital like this, we cannot have quality health care here. So, if the people die of avoidable ailments, you will understand why. We are appealing to the government to come to the aide of this hospital. Like you can see, this hospital drawS patients from local government councils in Kano and Katsina. The hospital does not even have a functional mortuary even though the road in front of the hospital goes to Kano. It is a federal road leading to Kano. The mortuary here is not functioning at all. So, there is a lot to be done for this hospital and the government should not fold its hands. The first thing we are appealing to the government to do for us is to employ additional nurses and other medical personnel”.

    Another staff who would not want his name in print said “we need more staff. Even if you can give us 100 nurses now, we will appreciate it because it will go a long way to aiding our work here. In addition to employing more staff, the government should improve on the salary scale in the state. If possible, we should have a medical salary scale for medical workers in the state. If this is done, we will not be losing staff to other states and the federal institutions. Many people have left to join ABU Teaching Hospital or other state governments. If we have a good salary structure, we can retain these people and we will not be suffering like this”.

  • Jos: Once upon a model market

    Jos: Once upon a model market

    The Jos Main Market was more than a trading centre. It was also a tourist attraction. Visitors to the state stopped by to take in its beauty, its extensive size, to say nothing of its architecture. Then one day, the beautiful structure was all but reduced to rubble. Blame it on a mysterious fire.

    The market was one of two major reasons why people visited Jos, the Plateau State capital. The other reason was the unique cool weather.

    The beautiful, ultra-modern Jos market was located at the city centre of Jos.

    The market and the weather combined to make Jos probably the most beautiful city in the country, if not in the West Africa.

    The exclusive cool weather of Plateau is no doubt a natural phenomenon, but the Jos ultra-modern market was a very unique man-made beauty.

    When the market was constructed even up till 2011, one could not find its type in any state of the federation. The market had a unique design that made it the most attractive tourist site in the state. People travelled from all over the country to catch a glimpse of it. The tourism impact of the market was such that the federal government counted it as one of its topmost tourism destinations.

    The famous market was constructed by the first military administrator of the state following its creation in 1975, Police Commissioner Joseph Deshi Gomwalk. And indigenous Plateau leader, J. D. Gomwalk thought of a project that will stand the test of time as well as stand the state out. He then came up with the idea of the market. He began constructing it with conviction and maximum attention. Due to the complexity and vastness of the market, its construction lasted more than 10 years. It went on throughout the four years Gomwalk served as the first governor of the state. He handed the same market project to the first civilian governor of the state, Chief Solomon Lar in 1979.

    Considering the huge potentials of the market project, all the administrators who inherited the project cannot resist working for the realisation of the dream of the market. On completion, the market had shop accommodation for at least 3,500 traders. The open space at the base of the market was meant to accommodate at least 2000 shops. It was constructed with provision for banks, restaurants, police station, fire service station, post office, warehouses, car parks as well as office accommodation for market staff, among others. A huge amount of taxpayers’ funds and loans running into billions of naira went into the market project before its completion.

    But all of a sudden, this market that served as the pride of the nation went up in flames. It took the state fire service two days of intensive battle to put off the fire. When the fire was over, the market was no more, the most beautiful market in the country was gone. The market that took the state over 10 years to complete was turned to ashes by fire within 24 hours. The market lasted for only 17 years. The market got burnt in 2002 when the state was yet to recover its cost of construction. The state had not even paid back half of the loan it acquired from Mid-Land Bank when it got burnt.

    The cause of the fire disaster which occurred  in February 2002 remains unknown till date. Nigerians who either know or have heard about the market mourn its destruction. Former governor of the state, Solomon Lar, who played a positive role in completing the market, wept like a baby when he went to see the extent of damage to the market.

    The disaster sent thousands of traders out of business; it threw thousands of staff out of work, reducing the state tourism to nearly nothing and brought the state economy to its knees. Indeed, no other disaster has affected the state like that of the market. The total loss recorded in the market fire disaster cannot be quantified. Some traders committed suicide following the huge loss they encountered. A commission of inquiry was set up by the then Joshua Dariye administration to ascertain the causes of the inferno. The report of the commission never saw the light of the day.

    Knowing how the market had given the state national and global prominence, it was expected that the state government will move quickly to reconstruct the market considering especially it’s huge economic potential to the state. The state government made promises of reconstructing the market through public-private partnership, but eleven years after the destruction of the market, such promises have not been fulfilled by the state government.

    At the advent of the incumbent administration of Governor Jonah Jang in 2007, government made a proposal to demolish the remaining structures of the market, evacuate it and replace it with a shopping mall of modern and international standard. Jang is yet to offer any reason why he has not done anything on the proposed international shopping mall. But the government has offered reasons why the market will not be rebuilt at the same site. The governor is of the opinion that markets should be decentralised. Two, that such huge market complex at the city centre will cause congestions especially in Jos, the state capital.

    For these two reasons, government has encouraged the construction of two satellite markets in Jos. One is located at Rukuba Road, the other at Katako, both in Jos North Local Government Area of the state. The government also made deliberate efforts towards developing satellite markets in Bukuru, Farin Gada and Dadinkowa.

    Notwithstanding, the construction of the two satellite markets and hope of government to decongest the city center seemed to have failed to yield expected results for government. Thousands of traders have refused to vacate the premises of the Jos main market. Only few of them moved to occupy the satellite markets. The demise of the Jos ultra modern market has only created another ultra-modern problem for the state government. A visit to the market site in Terminus Jos shows the clusters of shops erected by traders at the foot of ruined market. Other traders who do not erect any structure takes on the streets to display their wares for sale. So much so, that vehicles contests usage of the roads with trader’s wares.

    Rather than going to the satellite markets and trade under a roof, traders rather rejected the offer and preferred to trade around the burnt market using umbrella as roof. Any visitor to Terminus today will behold a sea of umbrella roofs used as markets by traders. The umbrella roof remains the most prominent features at Murtala Muhammed way, Ahmodu Bello way, Tafawa Balewa streets, old Bukuru Parks, etc. These features provided by traders have made Jos city centre look like a huge refugee camp.

    This scenario was made possible with buyers trooping to Terminus daily to purchase wares. Today, 70% of buying and selling takes place in Terminus within the vicinity of the main market. In other words, the market that was a tourist delight in Jos is now a source of nightmare to government as activities around the ruined market site now constitute an ultra modern abuse of the state tourism potentials. The skeleton of the ruined market stands tall and it’s stores serves as bunks that provide  accommodation for all manners of criminals in the city.

    Now even amorous activities take place at night in the night. The edifice is also a den for rapists. Several teenage girls have been lured there and attacked. It is also a hide-out for armed robbers who converged there to plan and attack innocent citizens. Parts of the market have been converted to refuse dumps, some other parts used as public toilet by traders.

    The ruin of the market site is now a huge embarrassment to government and citizens of the state.

    As a matter of fact, the much talked-about Plateau State tourism was gone with the absence of the famous market edifice. Apart from the 2007 assurances of Governor Jang that his government will turn the ruin of the market into an international shopping mall, no action has been seen. It appears the Jang administration is keeping their plan on the market close to their chest.

  • Anguish at Abuja call-to-bar

    Anguish at Abuja call-to-bar

    The joy of seeing their children become full-fledged lawyers was almost marred for parents of law graduates called to bar at the prestigious International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja as all facilities effectively ground to a halt. The two-day event where over 5,000 lawyers were called to the Nigerian bar, organised by the Nigerian Law School, was described as pathetic by some aggrieved guests that were denied the thrill of the moment by bad management of the event.

    The ventilation in the main African hall of the ICC was almost at zero level but for opened door at several points of the hall as the air conditioning system appeared to have packed up due to the excess human traffic in the hall.

    Every available space in the hall was taken including the gallery that seldom get filled up. There were more parents and well-wishers outside than those in the hall. People were seen lying on the carpeted ground within the hall due to exhaustion from worsening ventilation and lack of space where to sit. About two people were seen being fanned by sympathisers as they seemed to be on the brink of collapsing.

    Outside the hall, the situation was worse. Though there was no complaint about ventilation, but finding chairs to sit was the major problem. Some smart Nigerians took advantage of the situation to extort money for providing chairs for the tired guests who had no option than to be happy to have seen where to rest their tired body on.

    Mrs Augustina Anjorin, who flew in from Sweden and Honorable Razaq Bello-Osagie whose daughter, Arafat, a 2.1 graduate of Nottingham University, UK relive their experiences to Abuja Review.

    Bello-Osagie,  expressed disappointment  at the shoddy organization of the event saying, there were many parents and relatives that would have wished they were not at the event due to the harrowing experience they were subjected to.

    He said: “There were many parents as well as friends and family from far and wide, many from abroad that want to celebrate this moment with their loved ones but denied the moment. The condition in the hall was horrible. I am a parent but I couldn’t get in despite having my valid invite.

    “But the question is, what does it take to organize a crisis-free event devoid of complaint when’re everyone involved would go home happy and fulfilled? This is not the only place where events of such magnitude were organised, we have to other places and witnessed how they do things like this. If the school cannot handle it, what stops them from commissioning an event expert to execute it? With that, if there is any mishap, there would be somebody to hold responsible.

    Apart from that, what stops the Law School from staggering the event into three, four or five days instead of two so that there will be less crowd at any given day.

    “If you go outside the ICC to the road now, it’s a chaotic situation, even the road management agencies have reached their limits as the lines between the human and vehicular traffic have blurred. Must we subject ourselves to stress in everything we do in this country?”

    Another parent who flew in from Sweden, Mrs. Augustina Anjorin she would have stayed back in Lagos. Had she knew that she would not be able to gain access to the main hall. “The arrangement was shoddy and it is not just annoying but very frustrating. Why couldn’t I gain entrance i to the hall? I have my invitation card with me. Yet I could not get in. I inquired because I was angry and I was told the management had specific number of guests but that someone hacked into the system and printed more. The consequence is that there were almost equal number of official invitation cards and the fake cards in circulation. Invariably, many of those with the real cards got here

    only to discover that the whole space has been taken up. What kind of a country is this where everyone wants to take advance of every situation to the detriment of the majority?

    On the way forward, Bello-Osagie, whose daughter was one of the youngest in her class said, as a lawmaker, mere complaints would not make any difference but that no matter how little, concerted effort should be made to correct whatever anomaly there is.

    “As it is, if we continue to lament our plight from now till thy kingdom come would make no difference until concrete steps are taken. As a lawmaker, with what I went through today, I will confer with my Speaker and my other colleagues on how to make events like this better and memorable for those that attend it. My intention is to see how a motion or whatever my colleagues felt would be more effective can be instituted and passed so that we kick-start a culture of seamless and stress-free execution of events in line with global practices. We cannot continue to delude ourselves that this is Nigeria and allow ourselves to be left behind in a globalizing world. Technology is deployed in everything and those with the expertise should be encouraged to handle such things,” he said.

     

  • Karu Abattoir: A dirty, money-making facility

    Karu Abattoir: A dirty, money-making facility

    Most people probably find it difficult to believe that an abattoir can generate any form of revenue for a government.

    Although it was confirmed a few weeks ago by the Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development secretariat (ARDS) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mrs Bema Madayi that the Karu abattoir provides the FCT an Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of N5m monthly, people still wonder why the abattoir is still an eyesore.

    The road leading to the facility and its surroundings is unsightly during the rainy season. Even though The Nation visited in the dry season, there were still indications of the types of health hazards to resident’s miles away.

    When the rain comes, the abattoir becomes extremely muddy, smelling to the high heavens as the rains wash animal dung and bones into neighbouring houses, since it does not have a proper drainage system. Faeces is washed to the road nearby, making it impossible for residents to get by without waddling in the thick mud of faeces.

    Unfortunately, behind the tiny fence of the abattoir is a primary health centre that caters to the health needs of residents nearby and after it rains, all the waste from the abattoir floods the health centre with the smell of dung and rotten meat prevalent. Patients and staff will have to leave the premises to avoid suffocation and infection that might have come with the waste.

    An attending nurse at the health centre, Margaret, explained that it is horrible being close to the abattoir.

    She said, “during the rainy season, we and patients do not enjoy coming here because of the smell due to the cow dung that washes into the health centre and normally, we can’t stay here for more than 6-7pm, because most of them smoke and take hard drugs by the fence, they stab one another when they get high and will refuse to pay after treatment but instead threaten us with the knives that they always carry about.”

    When The Nation caught up with the chairman of the Karu abattoir Magaji Kata, he confirmed that they WEre aware of the health hazard that the abattoir could cause its surrounding community, but insisted that they are not to be blamed because they faithfully pay their revenue when due and it will be good to see the result of what they are paying for, it is left for the government he said to do something about the environment they operate in.

    Kata stated that, “Our biggest problem in this place is the lack of drainage that should wash our waste into the stream instead of the way that it ends up on the streets, defiling the environment, if only we can get a huge gutter that will be directed to the stream and away from residential areas, we have a stream that does not dry up and flows as far as river Lokoja.

    “The problem we have here that causes people around to think of the abattoir as a nuisance is that, the environment is filled with sand instead of it being cemented like other standard abattoirs in the country, if you walk into the Agege abattoir, you will find that it is cemented, which is because, we deal with meat which easily gets dirty and is not hygienic for it to fall to the sand.

    “Another reason for the smell that people complain of is the fact that we do not have a cattle ranch in this place, our cows are dumped in the mud during the raining season which inflicts them with ill health, diseases and we will have to wear rain boots to get access to them but the worst part of the mud is that we have witness several accidents were some of our boys taking care of the cattle will stumble and fall into the mud, maybe the person passes out but we wake up in the morning and find their dead bodies because the mud prevented them from breathing when they fell.

    “If our cattle ranch can be done properly and drainages made for free flow of water in the rainy season, the residents around us will no longer complain because about our waste getting into their houses, during the rainy season.”

    He also explained that the Agege abattoir is actually the type of abattoir that they wish to have, as it has a cattle site on one side, slaughter house on the other and a well cemented segment for the meat to be distributed and sold.

    Kata explained that the problem with the abattoir is the level of people you found there, who smoke all kinds of things, including some drug addicts who enjoy starting trouble. He also and they can have two sufficient gutters; all the problems the abattoir experience will be resolved.

    Alhaji Gambo a butcher at the market who believes that the government is playing with their intelligence by making promises to them that it is not ready to keep said, “We whole heartedly accept all the policies introduced by the government, but all the things they tell us that should be avoided are the same things that they turn around and do, so now, he look at it and wonder what kind of a thing this is, whether the government was telling lies in the first place and made us support them.”

    They all agreed that a committee was set up sometime back by the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Olajumoke Akinjide to look into the standard of the abattoir which they cooperated with completely and they all hoped that the report will be considered and something done soon to prevent an epidemic in the environment come rainy season.