An ominous cloud hangs over the future of multitude of kid survivors of Boko Haram and other terrorist attacks in the northern parts of the country. Many years after they fled their various communities, a large percentage of the children have not returned to school while those who had not seen the four walls of the classroom are yet to start school. The high rate of mortality, hunger and starvation in their rank has forced many of them to become breadwinners who have to hustle to fend for their dependants, INNOCENT DURU reports.

Mariam Fulani, a 13-year-old girl, savoured the joy of family life from birth as she got all the attention and affection she needed from her parents and siblings. Life was so smooth that she developed a desire to become a medical doctor at an early age. In this, she had the backing of her parents, especially her father, who promised to train her to any level of education she desired.

But while she was still basking in the euphoria of her parents’ assurances, members of the deadly Boko Haram sect struck and wreaked unimaginable havoc. “They killed my parents, brother and sister and I am now an orphan,” she said.

Mariam, who said they were indigenes of Katsina State residing in Borno State before the attacks, added that she witnessed the gruesome murder of her parents and siblings and that has left an indelible scar in her memory.

After the horrendous experience, she joined other survivors to flee to Bauchi State in search of refuge.

More than five years of living as an internally displaced person in Bauchi, Mariam’s dream of going to school remains a mirage. It has been more of a survival battle for her and her peers as they engage in street trading daily to survive. In spite of this, the desire to go back to school still reverberates in Mariam’s heart.

“I am out of school but I wish to go back,” she said through an interpreter. “I sell akara for a living. I want to be a medical doctor if I have the opportunity of going to school.”

According to the statistics released by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Nigeria has a total of 10.5 million children out of school with more than 300,000 children killed in the North-East.  UNICEF and European Union (EU) said last year that no fewer than 2,295 teachers had lost their lives while 1,400 schools were destroyed in North-East Nigeria since 2009 as a result of insurgency. For more than a decade, there has been no respite for pupils and the educational institutions in the region.

The predicament of Mariam and thousands of other IDPs is worsened by the fact that they are living in the host communities and not in a camp where government officials see to the needs of the inmates.

Abdusalam, a 14-year-old boy, was in primary two when his parents fled Borno State to settle in Bauchi following the activities of the insurgents. He hasn’t seen the four walls of a classroom thereafter as his parents lack the wherewithal to send him to school.  He has since resorted to running errands and acquiring skills in a mechanic workshop where he makes a paltry N200 to support the family.

He said: “I was in Primary 2 when Boko Haram attacked our area. I am working at a mechanic workshop at the garage. I use whatever money I get from the workshop to buy food items that I take home for my parents to cook for us.

“My father does not do anything for a living. My mother makes hair for people. I make between N200 and N300 every day.”

In spite of the money he is making on a daily basis at the mechanic workshop, Abdusalam still feels unfulfilled. “I want to go to school to have more knowledge of what I am learning at the workshop. I have the feeling that, that would make me very fulfilled in life,” he said.

Adijat adamu, a 15-year-old survivor of Boko Haram attacks who sells potage to survive, said her burning desire to return to school remains the reason she has refused to get married like many of her peers.

“Some of my friends are married but I want to go to school. I was in Primary 3 when the insurgents attacked our place. I am from Gwoza Local Government Area,” she said.

From selling potage, she said, “I make between N150 and N200 every day. I take the money home for my parents to provide food for us.”

Zainab Abubakar, 14, has also had to shun the temptation to get married to keep her hope of going back to school alive.

“I want to go to school and not to marry. Some of my friends are married but I don’t want to,” she said.

Zainab said she was in Primary 1 when Boko Haram attacked their area in Gwoza. “We ran into the bush when they attacked our school. My parents are not doing anything for a living now. We really don’t get sufficient food to eat, and when there is hunger, there is bound to be sickness. We are often feeling weak.”

‘We don’t know what school looks like’

While the above respondents had the opportunity of having a taste of education, hordes of other children in the host communities in Bauchi have no idea what school looks like. Ten-year-old Mohammed Mohammed is one of them. He hasn’t gone to school all his life. He has only heard of it with his ears but does not know how it feels to be a student.

“I came from Adamawa. I haven’t gone to school all my life, but I have a burning desire to go. My parents are here in Bauchi, doing menial jobs,” he said.

Balkisu, an indigene of Borno State, has similar experience. “I am eight years old. I have never seen the four walls of a classroom, but I desire to go to school.

“I sell masa (a local delicacy) for a living. I really feel unhappy seeing others going to school when I am busy hawking masa. I want to have a feel of what it takes to go to school.” Our children’s future is bleak – IDP leaders

The leader of internally displaced persons in Bauchi, Buba Musa, and Gombe State Secretary of IDPs, Isa Maina, are worried about the future of their children.

Musa said they have about 11,000 children displaced by the activities of insurgents in the state.

He said: “Most of the children are not going to school. On the average, I can say that about 7,000 of the children are not going to school. They are engaged in petty trading.

“Some of them sell groundnut or garri. The death rate is not so high here. The number of children that has died is not up to 100.

“Hunger is a major challenge confronting us, especially the children. That is the most serious problem here. We don’t have food to eat. “Whatever the children get from their petty trading is what they sometimes use to eat. Where there is no sufficient food, malnutrition must be the order of the day. You really don’t need a soothsayer to tell you that.”

Decrying the impact of climate change on IDPs who are farmers, the chairman said: “The farming season has also been very poor because we have acute drought here. Some of us have not got any harvest. We also have the challenge of accessing fertilizer, herbicide.

“We have no problem with the host community. In fact, the Bauchi State Government has been magnanimous to us.

But in spite of their assistance, life has not been easy for us. Getting water is a problem. To get food is a problem. We have nothing all these years.

“We engage in menial jobs to survive. The future of our children would not be as smooth as we wished. It won’t be good.”

Isa Maina, the Gombe IDPs State Secretary, said 85 per cent of the children in the state are not going to school.

His words: “For some time now, nobody cares about us. There is hardly a week that we don’t go to court to sort out the problems of rent for some members because some of our members cannot pay their rent.

“If somebody cannot afford to pay his rent, how can such a person be able to send his children to school? We also have widows and elderly people among us who have children.”

Corroborating the Bauchi chairman, Maina said: “Some of the children who are not going to school are selling pure (sachet) water and groundnut among other things.

“Some of the children are just idle at home. How can they speak English? They didn’t go to school.”

Maina said they have about 2,500 children and only about 20 per cent of them are going to school. “The future of our children is more than being in darkness,” he said.

“There is acute malnutrition among our people, the children in particular. As a parent, if you don’t have something to do and you cannot provide for your family, hunger and malnutrition will automatically set in.

“Some women go washing clothes for people or sweeping people’s compound and are paid N1,000 or N2,000 at the end of the month. What is that worth in this economy?  Malnutrition must certainly be happening in that circumstance.”

Lamenting the mortality rate among the children, he said: “Last week, about two or three children died. They fell sick but their parents could not take them to the hospital and the next thing we heard was that ‘I lost my child yesterday or I lost my child the day before yesterday’.

“Death among children here is almost a daily thing.  Some bereaved parents don’t want to inform us about the death of their children.

“It is basically about malnutrition. If a child is suffering from malaria and proper care is not taken and a balanced diet is not taken, before you know it, the child will collapse and die.  All these are attached to mal-nutrition.

“Years back, we had support from the medical centre and specialists. As an IDP, if you fell sick, you would go to the medical centre and they would treat you.

‘But in the last three to four years, there has been no such support. These are some of the challenges that we are facing.”

Explaining the implications of insurgency and banditry on education in the north, Mallam Mustapha of FCCG, Kebbi, said: “The implication is that there would be more children that would be out of school. It means that the number of illiterates and people who have not had access to education will be on the increase.

“Many parents would not want their children to go to school so that they would not become victims of banditry. Even the population of students in our higher institutions of learning is bound to drop.

“We have universities and federal universities of technology. But if a situation like this persists, it is going to affect the population of those seeking admission into those higher institutions.

“At the same time, you will see a lot of youth corps members redeploying because nobody wants to stay in an insecure environment.”

Budgetary allocations rise as out of school children increase

A run through the statistics of the country’s budget shows that allocations for security have continued to rise over the years even as the spate of insurgency and attendant problem of children dropping out of school increases.

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) earlier in the year said Nigeria had the highest rate of out of school children in the world. UNICEF and the European Union (EU) last year said no fewer than 2,295 teachers had lost their lives while 1,400 schools were destroyed in the North-East since 2009 as a result of insurgency.

The UN body said Nigeria has a total of 10.5 million children out of school.

The UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins, disclosed this in a statement while commemorating the International Day of Education.

“The Nigerian government has committed to increasing funding for education, which is a very important step – far too many Nigerian children today are not in the classroom – and for those who are, far too many are not getting solid education that can translate into good prospects for their futures.

“10.5 million children are out of school in Nigeria, which is the highest rate in the world. The figure indicates that one-third of Nigerian children are not in school and one in five out-of-school children in the world is a Nigerian.

“It is estimated that 35 per cent of Nigerian children who attend primary school do not go on to attend secondary school. Half of all Nigerian children did not attend secondary school in 2021.

“As we celebrate the International Day of Education today amid concerns in much of the world about the impact of COVID-19 on education, we must take a close look at what is happening to our children in Nigeria, and the opportunities they are missing out on when they lack education.

“We need to look towards communities – leaders, parents, teachers and caregivers – and together, find the best strategies to ensure that all children enroll into school, have access to continuous learning and ensure they emerge with quality skills that equip them for a prosperous future.”

Hawkins stated that there was a need to ensure that girls have access to learning to enable them to receive an education that would begin to address issues of gender inequality.

“All girls have much to offer to find solutions to Nigeria’s challenges – and we have to nurture their creativity and innovation,” he added.

He continued: “We also need to ensure that children are safe when they are in school – no child should be afraid to enter a classroom – afraid their school might be attacked or that they will be kidnapped. And no parent should fear sending their children to school.

“In 2021, there were 25 attacks on schools, 1,440 children were abducted, and 16 children killed. In March 2021, no fewer than 618 schools were closed in six northern states (Sokoto, Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Niger, and Yobe) over the fear of attack and abduction of pupils and members of staff. The closure of schools in these states significantly contributed to learning losses for over two months.”

A breakdown of budgetary allocations to combating insurgency in the country shows that more money is being committed annually.

In 2016, allocation to security gulped N1.06 trillion and moved up to N1.14 trillion in 2017. In 2018, the allocation jumped to N1.35 trillion and rose in 2019 to N 1.76 trillion. In 2020, allocation to the sector was put at N1.78 trillion. Put together, the total allocation within the five years under consideration totaled N7.1 trillion.

Between 2011 and 2015, budgetary allocations to the sector by the Goodluck Jonathan administration stood at N4.62 trillion.

The allocation to security in 2011 was N920 billion and N924 billion in 2012. In 2013 and 2014, N923 billion each was allocated to security while the sum rose to N934 billion in 2015 to bring the total to N4.62 trillion.

Out of school children may later become criminals

A lecturer at the Umaru Musa Yaradua  Univeristy, Katsina, Dr Bla Abdullahi Husaini, is worried that the neglect of the kids by the society could spell doom in future.

He said: “They are out of school now. Their parents have been killed,  and the community is not doing anything for their survival. They are left alone.  In years to come, these out of school children will have no sympathy on any growing economy that is coming because  they were not assisted when they  assisted when they were growing up. There was no sympathy, empathy  by the host community when they needed it. So, they will now turn  to be another class of criminals.

“It is only when you grow up in a family setting that somebody will tell you that what you are doing is not good.  You will have somebody to knock your head when you are wrong and somebody to also guide you but these categories of out of school children don’t have anybody to do all that. Tell me in the near future how they will be sympathetic to the community that they find themselves.  There is no way. It is only education that is giving people focus, direction, orientation and organization.”

Sharing his experience with some of the children, Dr Husaini, a specialist in International Relations, Defence and Security, said:  “I was able to interview some of these out of school children. When they saw a motorcycle, the brand called Boxer, they ran into the host community and started screaming ‘ they are coming, they are coming’.  They ran in and shut the door. That is the level of psycho-social trauma these people are going through.

“There should be a provision for education in emergency. The aim of that is to cater for those that were chased away by calamites and other man made calamities.  They are running away from their original homes  to a host community that is relatively peaceful than their own.   It is now the responsibilities of the state authorities where they are or where they left to cater for their basic needs. “ Again we are in a situation where the host communities don’t have the shock absorber to absorb them and give them what they need. It now puts the host communities in a dilemma.”

He noted that there is a direct relationship between the rising cases of out of school children and budgetary allocations for fighting insecurity in the country.  “The budgetary allocation we are having in fighting insurgency and other insecurity in the country is not being monitored.  It is not being fully given to those who deserve it.  It is not  being fully applied.   The federal government is spending N1billion on security every day.  Per month, the federal government is spending  N30billion on security.   There are other people that are invisible, those visible and actors that are benefitting from it  and that is why it is not going  to end.

“Believe you me, what is happening in the country in the next 10 to 20 years, it will not end because it is a very lucrative venture.”

Efforts to speak with the Federal Ministry of Education to know what  is being done about the predicament of the kids were not successful. The spokesman, Ben Goong  didn’t answer calls to his mobile line. He was also yet to respond to a text message sent to him as at the time of filing this report.

Boko Haram started in Maiduguri in 2001 and that is about 21 years ago. Has insurgency ended? Those people that are  destroying  the   Northeast are here in the Northwest to destroy.  The government should apply the method they applied in the Northeast to the situation in the Northwest.

The living conditions of former occupants of Otodogbame, a riverine community in the heart of Lagos Island is heart-rending. The people were reportedly evicted after a dispute with a royal family over the ownership of the land. Before then, the Lagos State Government under the administration of former Governor Akinwumi Ambode had expressed concern over the security of the place, saying that its demolition was carried out “as a security measure in the overall interest of all Lagosians” because intelligence report had revealed that militants were using the “illegal settlement” as a base.” Five years after exiting the area, the people are battling with hunger and diseases in their new settlement in a remote part of Ajah, another highbrow Lagos community, resulting in avoidable deaths, INNOCENT DURU reports.

Sunday, a nine-year-old boy, was bubbling with life when his parents departed Otodogbame, a community in highbrow Lagos Island, along with their other kinsmen about five years ago to settle in a remote part of Ajah, another highbrow Lagos settlement. At their new location, his vivacity became more noticeable because the migrants were closely knit and everybody could see what everyone was doing.

A couple of years later, Sunday started losing his vibrancy as a strange disease ravaged his hands and other parts of his body. “My son had rashes all over his hands and some other parts of his body. The rashes were so severe that he was not able to sleep at night,” his father, Bene, said.

With time, the hitherto energetic boy grew weaker and weaker until he was incapable of moving around.

“My boy, who was so strong to the delight of everybody in the neighbourhood became very weak and could no longer walk. He felt pains when his hand touched anything. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the means to take him to the hospital for treatment,” the distraught father said in an emotion laden tone.

One day, Bene left home but had to cut short his mission when the wife called to inform him that their son’s condition was getting out of hand.

He said: “The mother called to say that my son was crying and would not stop in spite of all the efforts she had made to pacify him. I rushed back home to see him.

“On getting home, I saw my son in pains. He was crying and calling me repeatedly. I stood and watched helplessly. Tears rolled down my cheeks and his mother’s as we could not do anything to help him.

“He continued to call my name until he stretched his body and breathed his last.”

Bene’s eyes glistened as he recalled the death of his son. His head dropped as his eyes gazed at the empty ground.  “The memory hurts,” he said. The day suddenly turned into night. It was as if I was dreaming, but I wasn’t.

“A wall of anguish built up in me. I couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing. I had looked forward to raising a great child because he had all the attributes of becoming one. Unfortunately, circumstances beyond my control didn’t allow me to achieve that dream.”

Bene’s late son, like the horde of other children in the area, lacked access to potable water. They rely solely on untreated well water for drinking and other domestic uses.

Aside from rashes, it was learnt that the children often stool and complain of stomach ache.

A study by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) had earlier revealed that more than 100,000 children under five years of age die each year in Nigeria due to water-borne diseases like diarrhoea.

According to the world body, 90 per cent of the deaths were directly attributable to unsafe water and poor sanitation.

UNICEF noted: “Access to clean drinking water is a human right — just like the right to food and the right to live without torture and racial discrimination.

“And ending open defecation and making water, sanitation and hygiene services available to all Nigerians is one of the biggest challenges, as construction and management of facilities require sustained investments and more partnerships, especially with the private sector.”

“The Nigeria government should invest three times more in the water sector, making sure that every Nigerian has access to clean water and a toilet as the lack of access to water is impacting the well-being, specially of the most vulnerable.”

Before losing his son, Sunday, Bene said he had earlier lost a child shortly after delivery.

He said: “I have lost two kids all together.

“When my wife was pregnant, I had no money to register her in the hospital for antenatal care. We started giving her attention at home.

“In the long run, we decided to take her to the hospital but it appeared too late.

“The hospital officials were querying us, asking why we didn’t come to register her earlier.

“Like I told you earlier, I couldn’t register her for antenatal care because I didn’t have money and still don’t have money as I speak with you now.

“Eventually, the baby died after she was born.”

Daniel Kunso and Emelien, male and female members of the community respectively, have also lost a child each.

Explaining how she lost her child, Emelien said: “I lost my son after he fell ill. He had malaria and was always complaining of headache. I was giving him paracetamol but he died in the end.”

Kunso on his part said: “I had six children but lost one of them. We are suffering from water borne diseases because the water we drink is not clean. But because we have no alternative, we keep drinking it like that. We can’t afford to buy sachet water because we don’t have the means. That is why we rely solely on the unclean water.

“Whenever health challenges arise, we use herbs to treat ourselves or the kids. We occasionally patronise pharmacies if we have the means.”

Checks around the community revealed that it is not only children who have been dying as a result of the multiple complications in the area.

“We have also lost two adults.  The deceased were Oja and Timothy,” a resident who identified himself simply as Bale said.

“What else could have facilitated their death if not hunger and the nature of the water we are drinking here? he asked rhetorically.

“Added to that is the challenge of thinking too much. People who had means of livelihood and roofs over their heads suddenly became homeless and incapable of feeding themselves.

“It is disheartening and only those who feel it know it. It is by the grace of God that we are still here.

“This clothe I am wearing now was made and sent to me.”

Community battles epidemics

Besides avoidable loss of lives, members of the community, particularly the children, are constantly battling with stooling and acute stomach ache.

A female resident, Talabi Adams, said: “The kids stool a great deal. When they stool, they become weak and run temperature.

“In most cases, they can stool continuously for almost one week and drugs would not be able to stop the stooling.

“When I give them two tablets of the drug we use to stop the stooling, it hardens the stool a bit. Thereafter, the stool would gush out siririririri like that and we would continue giving them the medication till the stooling stops. It is a common and regular thing here.”

Bale spoke about their challenge with stomach ache, saying: “Stomach ache is a very common sickness here. Personally, I can’t lie down on my stomach because I feel severe ache each time I do. I feel it is the result of not eating well. Whenever I feel the ache, I take medication to alleviate the pains.”

Also sharing her experience, Madam Julian said:  “Sometimes, I would not be able to touch my stomach after drinking garri (cassava flakes) because it would be aching.

“My children also complain of stomach ache. Each time they do, I would soak kafura inside water and give it to them to drink.

“I mix salt with sachet water and drink it to reduce the pains each time my stomach aches.”

Speaking in the same vein, her neigbour, Idowu Salako, said: “I have an acute stomach ache and cough. I am always hot at night. I take paracetamol at times to reduce the pain.

“At times, the paracetamol would not reduce the pain but I will keep struggling on in the face of the challenges.”

Hunger is another nightmare

The people said they are also tormented by hunger since virtually all the men lost their means of livelihood after they left Otodogbame and consequently could not cater for their families. Garri has since become the main staple for the people.

“To feed is a big problem for us all. We give the children garri to drink in the morning and afternoon.

“At times I go begging for fish. If I succeed in getting one, I will use it to make small soup at night. I can blend pepper and onions to make soup. I will then make eba for them to eat with the soup. That happens if I get somebody to gift me fish,” Talabi said.

Bene said: “My children don’t eat well. At times they eat once a day. The fish they were eating as much as they wanted when we were at Otodogbame is no longer available.

“As a fisherman, I was making a huge catch to feed my family and also sell to make money.

“All that is no longer possible because we have no means to fish again. Our kids who would eat and dash fish to people no longer have fish to eat.”

Julian, another member of the community who washes clothes for people to survive, said: “At times, the people I wash clothes for would give me N300 or N200. Some even pay N100 and I collect it. I use the money to buy garri or agidi (solid pap). But garri is what the children and I drink most of the time.”

For her, beef is a luxury.

“I look at people who eat meat with envy. I feel like eating it too but I don’t have the means. If I have meat today, I will call my children and we will eat and dance kirishosho (displays the dance step).

It was heartrending hearing Emelien talk about how she and her children had gone hungry all day. She said at the time of her encounter with the reporter she had not even garri, the cheapest delicacy, to feed her children with.

Speaking in a smattering voice, she said: “As I am talking to you now, we have not eaten since morning, and  this is almost 4pm.

“I sell crabs for a living but I don’t always get it to sell. When I have crabs to sell, I do return around 10pm.

“While leaving the house, I would ask my children to get food from a vendor on credit and I would pay the following day.

“I drink and also give dirty water to my children. I don’t have the resources to buy sachet water.

“I am supposed to buy drugs right now but I don’t even have the money to do so.”

Like Julian, she said the last time she and her children ate meat was two years ago.

“It is not that we don’t feel like eating it but because I don’t have the resources to do so. When we don’t have money to buy food that is crucial to our survival, is it meat we would be talking about?” she asked.

It was also not a cheering chat with Idowu Salako who recounted how her children always go to school without food.

“I sell fish but it is not every time I get fish to sell. When I don’t get fish to sell, I would go and work as a dishwasher in a canteen in order to get money to give my children.

“They usually pay me N1,000 at the end of the day. I spend N200 transporting myself to the place and to go back home.

“From the remaining N800, I would give two of my children between N300 and N400 to go to school the next day. They carry each other in the bus to reduce the cost and often leave home before 5am to beat the traffic.

“The N300 or N400 does not include the money they would feed with. I give them N100 to feed anytime I have additional money.

“If I don’t have money, I would beg them to endure, promising to keep garri at home for them to drink when they return in the afternoon.

“Invariably, they often go to school with empty stomachs and stay like that till they return in the evening.

“If I don’t have the opportunity of working in a canteen, I would not get money to give them, and that means they would not go to school.

“They go to school about two to three times a week.

“I always give the remaining N200 to  my other children to eat.  When I have no money to give to them, I will go begging to get something for my children to eat.

“On many occasions, my youngest child would wake up around 2am and start crying for food. What I do is give him water to drink, because that is all I can afford.

“The water is really not clean and that also makes them purge. They also frequently complain of stomach ache, and there is nothing I can do because I have no money to buy medication.”

Echoing the previous respondents, she said: “The last time I ate chicken was last year, and it was given to me at the canteen where I wash dishes. I don’t have money to buy chicken or meat.

“To eat fish in my house, I have to beg people coming from the river to give it to me. When I get fish and don’t have money, I will beg for pepper and red oil to cook the fish.”

‘We are our own doctors’

Members of the community said that after some unpleasant encounters with health officials in the course of seeking treatment, they have resorted to treating themselves using local initiatives.

Reliving her experience, Talabi said: “There was a time three of my children were sick. I took them to a hospital for treatment.

“When we got there, they said we would carry out laboratory tests on all of them and that it would cost N9,000 to do that.  That was excluding the cost of treatment. I didn’t have that kind of money.

“I called my husband and we raised N5,000 and went back to the hospital to plead with them to have mercy on us but they refused.

“We subsequently returned home to use herbs. We bought herbs for N2,500. At times, we would be given the herbs on credit and we would pay when we have the money. This is not possible with the hospital.

“We don’t have doctors here. We are our own doctors.  You will get to Badore or Ajah before you can see a doctor.

“If we have to attend to a pregnant woman in labour at night, we would look for a canoe and paddle her to where our people who are native doctors are.

“To the glory of God, they have always had safe delivery.”

She added: “We don’t have access to potable water. The well water we drink compounds our health challenges.

“Mosquito bites also subject us to constant bouts with malaria. We use herbs to treat health challenges since we don’t have money to go to the hospital. We have no money at all. We only spread mat on sand to sleep at night.”

1.42 billion people living in areas of high/extremely high water vulnerability

UNICEF last year, during the World Water Day celebration, said globally, more than 1.42 billion people – including 450 million children – are living in areas of high or extremely high water vulnerability.

UNICEF said: “This means that 1 in 5 children worldwide do not have enough water to meet their everyday needs.”

The figures in Nigeria are particularly worrying, with 26.5 million Nigerian children experiencing high or extremely high water vulnerability – or 29 per cent of Nigerian children.

The analysis, part of the Water Security for All initiative, identifies areas where physical water scarcity risks overlap with poor water service levels. Communities living in these areas depend on surface water, unimproved sources of water, or water that can take more than 30 minutes to collect.

“The world’s water crisis is not coming – it is here, and children are its biggest victims,” said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria.

“When wells dry up, children are the ones missing school to fetch water. When droughts diminish food supplies, children suffer from malnutrition and stunting. When floods hit, children fall ill from waterborne illnesses. And when water is not available in Nigerian communities, children cannot wash their hands to fight off diseases,” said Peter Hawkins

The UNICEF data show that children in more than 80 countries live in areas with high or extremely high water vulnerability. Eastern and Southern Africa has the highest proportion of children living in such areas, with more than half of children – 58 per cent – facing difficulty accessing sufficient water every day. It is followed by West and Central Africa (31 per cent), South Asia (25 per cent), and the Middle East (23 per cent). South Asia is home to the largest number of children living in areas of high or extremely high water vulnerability – more than 155 million children.

According to the UNICEF, Children in 37 ‘hotspot’ countries face especially dire circumstances, in terms of absolute numbers, the proportions of children affected, and where global resources, support and urgent action must be mobilized. This list includes Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sudan, Tanzania and Yemen.

At the current rate, UNICEF said Nigeria   will miss the SDG targets on people’s access to water, unless there is a strong commitment and appropriate action taken by all stakeholders.

“We have to act now both to address the water crisis in Nigeria to prevent it from getting worse and if we want to meet the SDGs,” said Peter Hawkins.

“We can only achieve water security for every Nigerian – including the Nigerian child – through innovation, investment and collaboration, and by ensuring services are sustainable and well-managed. We must act – for the sake of our children and our planet.”

Allegations of fraud, extortion and other underhand practices are rocking the execution of an agricultural project facilitated by Edo State Government to reintegrate Libya returnees and consequently discourage irregular migration in the state. The returnees alleged that they were stopped from using the bank accounts they opened for that purpose and denied shares of what was sold from the farm. As a result, some of the returnees have had to abandon the project and return to the Sahara Desert in fresh attempt to go to Europe, INNOCENT DURU reports.

ESSY, a Libya returnee bubbled with joy when she was named among the ex-migrants the Edo State Government shortlisted for training in catfish farming and loan opportunity to start the business in 2019.

The announcement raised her hope as she repeatedly thought to herself that the greener pasture she had unsuccessfully gone to seek elsewhere might actually be here in Nigeria.

“The news of my consideration for the project excited me. I looked forward to becoming a successful farmer who would help in spreading the campaign against irregular migration by telling prospective irregular migrants that they could make it here at home instead of risking their lives in the desert and the turbulent sea,” she said.

Shortly before the training commenced, Tessy received a credit alert of N1million from Sterling Bank approved by the state government for the project. “Wow! Are you kidding me? This is unbelievable,” Tessy said to herself as her hope of becoming a celebrated catfish farmer received a big boost.

But few months after the project commenced, Tessy’s expectations started fading away. Along the line, she looked back and began to regret the day she was listed for the project.

“Before you ask me if I will go back, I am even looking for money, and any opportunity that comes my way now, I will leave,” she said angrily as she relived her frustration with the project.

“In this country, they will say they are helping you.  But in the real sense, they are killing you.

“They should stop all this in the name of stopping people from embarking on irregular migration. They have a hidden agenda. They are encouraging nuisance.” Narrating how the project that renewed her hope of a better life in the country left an indelible sore in her heart, Tessy said: “We were trained in 2018 but started farming in 2019.  At the initial stage, they told us that we would individually be empowered with N1 million, and that got everybody interested.

“Thereafter, they said it would be a loan and that it would be managed by the government. From the loan, they paid our trainers, paid for our feeding and other things for three months.

“The expenses were deducted from the N1 million loan they gave to us.

“They later established the fish farm. The first sales we made, it was the government officials that sold the fish and collected the money.

“All the while I did the business I didn’t get any profit. The government officials were the ones selling the fish for us.

“Each time they sold the fish, they would pay the money into our account but we couldn’t access it.

“That Sterling Bank account used to be my salary account when I was working in Lagos. The government officials are now the ones operating the account. I can’t pay in money or withdraw from it.

“One of the officials treated me like an outcast because I refused his love advances.”

Tessy noted that when the project was not going as planned, many of the participants lost interest and started giving up.

“Because I don’t like giving up on time, I sold all that I had to expand the business when they told us that those who wanted to expand could do so.

“I invested the money I got from selling my off my soft drink investment on the farm. I realised more than N500,000 from selling my valuables and invested it all in the farm.

“At a point, people started stealing my fish, feeds and other things on the farm. When I reported to the authorities, they said I should use whatever I had to fight those that were doing that.

“At a point, they said they would disqualify me from the farm because after they stole from my fish, I was no longer up to the cut off mark.”

Following the heartache and untold setback the project allegedly caused for her, Tessy called it quits.

She said: “I have left the farm. I am not doing anything. If I had known that this is what would happen to me, I wouldn’t have taken the risk, because right now, I am back to square one.

“All the time and money I invested in the farm was a total loss. I have three children. It’s by God’s grace we are surviving.

“I have a statement of my account showing how they withdrew over N700,000 from my account. How can you say you empowered someone and at the end of six months when you harvest, the person cannot boast of N5,000?

“You are not even entitled to take more than two or three fish. I am ready to work or travel out if I see an opportunity.”

Discussions about the project is one thing that Dogo, another returnee, hates investing his time on.

“I don’t want to remember that issue, because each time I remember the issue, it pisses me off and throws me off balance,” he said trying to dismiss our correspondent.

Prodded further, he said: “What happened on the farm was an eye sore. They did not allow us to access the funds.

“If I borrow money and you want to use my money to buy XYZ for me, you should allow me to know what you want to buy, the amount and we would probably go for a cheaper one that would give us the same result.

“Government officials were just spending our money anyhow. They would dig a borehole of N180,000 and tell you it is N500,000 and you would have no choice but to accept it.

“They dug the first set of five boreholes for N500,000 each. When I raised the alarm, heavy alarm, they now dug the next set of boreholes for N250,000 each.

“They claimed N75,000 for tarpaulin that cost N40,000. All these were from our monies. They didn’t even consult us before doing all those things. They wasted the money.”

The visibly angry returnee noted that the government officials took the whole money realised from the first set of fish he harvested.

He said: “The same thing happened when the second set was sold. On many occasions there would be no power supply to pump water. Many of us resorted to buying fuel to pump water whenever there was no power supply.

“From 50 people, they reduced our number to 18 along the line, saying that we were the only ones who qualified. They gave us 500 fish and some feeds instead of the 1,000 they gave us when we started.

“It sounded so stupid to me because I travel all the way from Upper to GRA. How can I be covering that distance to go and take care of 500 fish? I have just abandoned everything.”

More participants lament involvement in project

Dogo’s allegations were amplified by Mary, who equally regretted taking part in the project.

“I have never seen this kind of thing before in my life. You said you want to empower me and it is you who would go and buy everything that I need.

“Would anybody who has N1 million not know that he would use it well?  Even if you want to buy things for me, at least you should allow me to follow you.

“At times, they treat us as if we are senseless. You can get a borehole sunk for N250,000 or N300,000 but there in the farm, they sank a borehole for over N700,000. My brother, they finished our money.”

Like other respondents before her, Mary said she had also left the farm. “How can I remain there when I have to use my money to clear grasses, pump water, and when your tarpaulin spoils, you would be the one to fix it. I was spending about N800 a day on transportation.

“I got an alert of N1 million while some others got over N900,000, but we couldn’t access the money. They used the money to empower themselves.

“At the end of six months, they said we were entitled to two fish without any money attached to it.

“They didn’t give us a dime after they sold what was harvested.

“I know one of us who has successfully gone back.”

The chairman of the returnee farmers body, Okosun, was equally unhappy with the manner the project turned out.

He said: “We started the farm in 2019. We cannot come from Libya and stay idle. The farm is about 10 acres.

“We only got bank alert but we didn’t see the money. The state government gave us a loan of over N900,000 each for the fish pond but we couldn’t access it.

“We went to the bank to collect ordinary ATM card but they didn’t give us. They said we have no access to the account.

“The government officials brought buyers of the harvest, but failed to give us anything from the money realised.”

The development, Okosun said, is discouraging them from farming. “We have registered our grievances. They said they would look into them but nothing has been done since then.”

Another participant, Lucky, has a slightly different story to tell. Unlike others who said they didn’t get any payment for their efforts, he said he got paid on two occasions.

Lucky said: “I joined the farm in 2019/2020. After we completed the training, I got N950,000 as loan, but I couldn’t access it. It was managed by government officials.

“They directed us to open the account. We couldn’t access the account after the loan was paid into it.

“They said it was so because some people may go and withdraw it.  They restricted us from using the account.

“The government officials sold the first set of fish I harvested but I was there taking records. I made a profit of about N90,000 from the first harvest.

“After they took their interest and other monies that we needed to pay, I was given over N50,000. I was also given about N25,000 after the second batch was sold.

“There was no profit thereafter. We started recording losses. Even if there was profit, the interest and other monies would take it.  The money they paid me was through the bank. They gave Sterling Bank directive to send it to my GTB account.”

Lucky said he was still in the business. But he regretted that participants were not allowed to make their choices.  fish. The number of people remaining in the business are not more than 15 because some people could not make it. They didn’t give them free hand,” he said.

Project incapable of addressing irregular migration menace —Returnees  

The returnees described the project as a gross failure and incapable of discouraging people from embarking on irregular migration.

“It is not a fruitful project to check irregular migration. A business that you do for six months or more and you cannot go home with ordinary N30,000, is that a good business? It was a complete waste of time.

The bank and the government officials just used us to enrich themselves,” Dogo said.

Some of their members who abandoned the project, according to him, have already embarked on fresh irregular migration.

“People are going everyday and more would still go. The campaign against irregular migration in the state is not working because the government is even making things worse for everybody.

“They are pushing everybody to the wall. The best thing is to go and risk your life. The chance of surviving is 10 per cent while the risk of dying is 90 per cent.  Why not go there. If God is on your side, you will survive. People prefer to go and die there than to stay here. It is as bad as that. People want to go there and die. You hear them saying it.”

Speaking in the same vein, Okosun said: “People are still going back (to Libya through Sahara Desert).

If I have the opportunity, I will leave the country again. I spent two years in Libya and I knew how I suffered on the road. I would ordinarily not want to go back, but what they are doing to us now is discouraging.

“I have been encouraging my people not to go. But how can I continue to encourage people to come into farming when we are not seeing anything from what we are doing?

“Government should give us loan and allow us to manage it by ourselves.”

The aim of using the project to empower returnees and discourage irregular migration, according to Lucky, is not yielding results.

He said: “The money was supposed to be a grant and not a loan. The participants were supposed to use the money to do what they understand; not making everybody to venture into the same thing.

“Another problem was that most people were far from the farm.  Some of the facilities are inadequate.”

Lack of a stable market, he added, was another challenge that affected the project.

“At the end of the day, you will just discover that you are labouring for nothing. That is the most discouraging part of it. It didn’t serve the purpose.

“We were about 50 that started the project, but about 35 people have left. The authorities are not saying anything about it.

“They are not seeing it the way the people who have left are seeing it. They are seeing it as if those people are not serious.

“For me, the system is not encouraging because the cost of things, especially the feeds, is so high.

“They didn’t manage our choices for us very well. They should have given us freedom and time. The loan was given at about nine per cent interest.”

Bank, govt have no right to deny individual access to own account —Unegbu

A former boss of Chattered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) Mazi Okechukwu Unegbu, has condemned allegations by the returnees that they were denied access to their bank accounts.

In a telephone chat with ourcorrespondent, Unegbu said: “It is very improper for the bank to allow other people to run somebody else’s account. It is very very wrong.

“And that is the problem with our government. They will start something good and later, they will start doing something else.

“Both the bank and the government are wrong. The bank would not allow somebody else to run an account that belongs to me. I will sue them.”

Sterling Bank, Edo govt react

The account officer who registered the returnees in a telephone interview with our correspondent confirmed there was restriction on the bank accounts opened by the returnees.

His words: “I don’t know what they came for. They just said they had a programme and that they needed an account. I am a marketer. I am a sales officer.  My job is to open accounts for people.  I did that and whatever happened between them is with the bank.  The account restriction was an order from the government. That was what I heard.

Also speaking, Edo State Permanent Secretary, Agric, Aikhuomobhogbe Peter, who was the project manager at the time the project started, dismissed the returnees’ allegations. According to him: “Every programme has an operational modality. Under the Edo Agricultural Programme, beneficiaries are identified and once they are identified they open an account with the participating bank.   Those accounts that are opened with the participating bank are supposed to receive funding for the enterprise.  In this case, what was done was catfish.   We normally hold a town hall meeting where the participants and the banks and the government will meet to discuss economics of production.  This says that if you are going to buy a thousand fish, if it will cost N30 per fish. You multiply 30 by 1000 that will be N30, 000. If you are buying feeds, tarpaulin, borehole etc, all the costs will be stated.”

That, he said, is what they call `economics of production. “If at the end of the day you now have N500, 000 as the entire project cost, that is what will now be agreed as the entire project cost.  We will now say these items will be procured from a vendor.  In this case we prefer to procure from the manufacturers.  If we are buying feeds for example we buy from Ollams.  It is cheaper to buy from the manufacturers.”

Once the funds are released to the account of the beneficiary, he further said: “There is what we call a LIEN. It  is placed on the account such that the beneficiary does not have access to withdraw the money without authorization.   When we want to buy feed, if it is N10 per person, the money is pulled together and sent to Ollams for supply. Ollams supplies the feed based on the deductions that have been made in those accounts that subscribed to the project.

“Once it is supplied, everybody sees that it is supplied. The same thing is done to the next item. When they produce the enterprise that is assigned to them, an off taker comes in to buy and pays to the account of the beneficiary. If the beneficiary spends X to produce and he spends Y, at that level, X-Y gives you Z.  Z is now given to the person as the profit.  It is a simple process.”

He said the returnees that didn’t get any profit didn’t make profit. “Those who made profit got their money.”

On allegations of inflating the cost of sinking boreholes and procurement of other materials, he said: “The issue of boreholes has been settled a long time ago.  There was nothing like that. That is a lie. That issue was settled a long time ago.”