The Nation Newspaper

Tag: forgotten

  • FORGOTTEN CHILDREN OF BENUE

    …Plight of minors at the mercy of hunger, starvation, death in Benue IDP camps

     

    Nigeria’s most vulnerable population is under threat as thousands of displaced children living in underserved and under-defended internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Benue State are battling with hunger, death and malnutrition. HANNAH OJO who visited some of the camps in Benue reports.

    THE pains of a withering finger and the sight of a child with flaccid penis has sent Mseer Agabi’s mind on a rapid decline. Agabi’s sedentary life took a detour when she fled herdsmen attack in her home town on January 2. The 19-year-old farmer is among the 24,019 people seeking refuge in an overcrowded IDP camp at a primary school in Ghajimba, Guma Local Government Area, Benue State.

    Living in dire sanitary conditions with barely enough to eat, Agabi contracted a disease that rendered the middle finger in her left hand sore and swollen. Left with no medical help, Agabi is left to surrender to a cruel fate that limits her ability to care for her yet to be circumcised 17-month-old baby boy. With no money to buy pain reliefs or analgesics, she dresses the affected finger in leaf and herbal ointment, which only provide temporary relief. The pains often return more forcefully, causing her sleepless nights.

    Struggling to hold the young lad as she made to clean mucus from his nose with the edge of her torn skirt, she uttered: “I’m afraid I won’t be able to give him the delicate care he deserves if I circumcise him now. I’m not feeding well and I can barely use my hand. Even now, I’m depending on other people to help nurse him whenever the pain becomes unbearable.”

    Not far from Agabi’s section of the LEA Primary School premises in the Gbajimba IDP camp is Terna Egba, a middle-age woman with a gaunt frame. Wearing an oversized shirt, her face still bears the grief of an impoverished life caused by the discomfort of a lost homeland. The millet farmer lost her husband in June to food poisoning. Faced with the task of raising five children alone, Terna ekes out a living from the pittance she makes from weeding people’s houses. Her six-year-old son who has rashes on his body walks around half clad with a protruding tummy and a skinny face.

    Her youngest child, a two-year-old, wears a black thread with the locket of the Holy Mary around his neck. “He often complains of stomach ache,” she complains. “I’m helpless when my children fall sick. I can’t even buy soap to wash them properly. The last time we got food in the camp was two months ago, and I barely make enough to feed my children,” she said in a tone of lamentation.

    •A displaced woman feeding her twins at the Gbajimba IDP Camp
    •A displaced woman feeding her twins at the Gbajimba IDP Camp

    Interrupted childhood, lost innocence Benue’s most vulnerable demographic is under threat. As at March 2018, the Benue State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) registered more than 80,000 children scattered in various camps across the state. These children, who left their homelands with parents and guardians to escape herdsmen attacks, now live in underserved and underfunded IDP camps.

    Schooling has been interrupted and cases of hunger and malnutrition are rife since food supplies have ceased from the government for some weeks. Findings revealed that the last consignment of food supplied to the seven recognised IDP camps in the state was in May.

    With the gear of hunger set in motion, many of the IDPs go into town in search of jobs but often return with no luck. The women go into the forest to cut firewood, dry them and sell, earning between N300 to N500, sums that are barely enough to feed their children.

    On one of such trips to the forest in search of firewood, Nyieryila Lorakpen came back to meet her 16-month-old baby, Aondofa, surrounded by a crowd. Poor baby Aondofa was playing around an open cooking area when he staggered into the fire and got his buttocks burnt two weeks ago.

    With no medical care in sight, the mother dresses the burns with leaves, slowing down the healing process. The baby no longer sleeps at night and spends the greater part of the day on the shoulders of him mum. Their case is worsened since they reside in an uncompleted staff quarters in Makurdi with some other IDPs who left the Abagena/Agan Camp in Daudu, where 34,986 people scramble for space in an uncompleted school building.

    “We are in an isolated place. Nobody remembers us. I can’t go out to work and there is no food. Even if I get medicine for my children, do I administer it on empty stomach?” the disgruntled mother asked in frustration.

    In the same location where Baby Aondofa got his buttocks burnt, five other children have died between May and July. The first one died at birth. About two died of shortage of blood, the other one died of convulsion. They were aged between one and seven.

    A mother of one of the deceased children, Alaam Doosuu, a 25-year-old woman from Torkula village in Guma Local Government Area, has fought hard to remember the circumstances surrounding the loss of her child.

    “He started purging but we waited two weeks before taking him to the hospital because there was no money. Doctors said he had shortage of blood. When we finally gathered money and took him to a private clinic, he was no longer responding to treatment. My baby died, and I have been suffering.

    “I don’t even have food to eat. I don’t have anything,” she said, wiping off tears as she relived her ordeal.

    “Our houses have no doors and we don’t have mosquito nets. There is no clinic here and our children can’t go to school. We have to go to the stream to fetch water, except for the raining season when we collect water in kegs and bowls,” Emmanuel, leader of displaced persons in the camp where the children died said.

    Deaths and more deaths

    Sickness and ill health have been the lot of many displaced persons, especially women and children. As it stands, a total 175,070 displaced persons across the state are scattered in 14 IDP camps (both the recognised and the unrecognised) in three local government areas.

    Infrastructure in all of the camps are in dire straits, forcing many to sleep in open spaces while children are exposed to danger and mosquito bites. Present within the premises of some of the camps are environmental hazards which have not only left scars on some children but led to the death of others.

    At the Abagena/Agan Camp, which has the second highest population of 34,986 displaced persons, a six-year-old girl fell from the topmost floor of an uncompleted building in the camp. She died on the spot. It was the same fate of death and fatal injury at another camp located in an area known as ‘Heavy Duty’ in North Bank Makurdi. There, the IDPS, numbering about 100 persons, occupy an uncompleted building which was initially designed as a guest house. The building has four uncovered pits covered with dirt. A child died in the pit two months ago while another one, a three-year-old named Emmanuel, survived a fall in the pit with a scar on his face.

    Banke Abel Ebe, a member of the coalition of NGOs who educates the IDPs on hygiene, said the ‘Heavy Duty’ camp is not recognised and has received no help from government. “We are making arrangement to see if we can get people to help them with aid,” he said in a tone laden with uncertainty.

    Located in the middle belt region of Nigeria, Benue State, renowned for its fertile soil, is the food basket of the nation. With a large body of rivers that nourishes the soil, making it yield easily, majority of the state’s inhabitants are farmers who profit from the pact between earth and hoe.

    Often times, clashes arise when herdsmen come from arid areas to graze their cattle, not discriminating between wild lands and farms. Conflict has escalated over the last few months, leading to indiscriminate massacres as herdsmen armed with superior weapons attack communities with no warning.

    A report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) stated that clashes between farmers and herdsmen in Nigeria have killed more people than Boko Haram in 2018.

    “At least 1,500 people have been killed in clashes between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers in central states since September last year. More than 1,300 Nigerians died from the farmer-herder conflicts between January and June this year, while the death toll from Boko Haram’s rebellion was about 250,” the group said.

    The report added that the quoted number is said to be six times higher than the number of people estimated by the United Nations to have been killed by Boko Haram in the same period.

    Hunger pangs and declining revenue

    Adjusting to a life of dependency where food is rationed is a hard reality to bite for many of the displaced persons. Many of them are keen to return to their homelands, but their lands are not safe as marauding herdsmen have taken over some of the lands and farming fields. Those who have dared to go back to reclaim their lands were killed while the women among them were raped with sticks inserted into their private parts, the natives relived.

    Agricultural production has stalled and food insecurity appears to be gaining a terrifying momentum as a result of the crisis.

    Before now, the displaced persons commanded attention, as they attracted visits by prominent individuals and private companies who donated food items. It is now seven months since they have been camped but the visits have waned. Donor corporations have moved on and the government has withdrawn food supplies, citing lack of funds.

    Few humanitarian agencies such as Doctors without Borders and the Red Cross are helping to provide clinical services and drugs to treat simple illnesses in some of the camps, but the impact is low because the people have no food to aid the digestion of the drugs.

    At the Gbajimba camp where Red Cross runs a clinic, 93 children were enrolled for a Community Management of Acute Malnutrition programme in July, out of which two of them later died.

    “The most prevalent ailment at the camp during the dry season was diarrhea and cough. When the rain started, people started coming down with malaria. Due to insufficient food intake, some children were not healthy as required,” Gbawuan Godwin, the officer in charge of the clinic in Gbajimba told The Nation.

    An official of SEMA, who pleaded anonymity, told The Nation that the last supply of food and toiletries brought to the camp was done in May. “There is no food in the camp. The store is empty, and we are helpless,” the SEMA official intoned.

    Confirming development in the IDP camps, Mr Emmanuel Shior, the Executive Secretary of SEMA, cited paucity of funds from the federal allocation as the reason for the lack of supplies to the camp.

    Mr Shior, who added that the state government had managed to keep IDPs in camp for over seven months, decried the lack of attention to the humanitarian crisis in Benue State on the part of the federal government.

    He said: “I want to use this opportunity to draw the attention of the federal government and international partners to the humanitarian crisis in Benue. The state government cannot do everything; there is need for intervention.

    “The problem in Benue is similar to what is happening in the Northeast, and I am surprised attention has not been given to the Benue humanitarian issue.

    “I am also surprised at the attitude of NEMA. NEMA should be at the forefront to ensure the way for IDPs but NEMA has only been here twice. When the Vice President visited with the DG of NEMA, the DG promised to return to Benue State in two weeks to provide shelter and additional food, but nothing has been done till date. Why is the federal Government not paying attention to what is happening in Benue State? Is Benue State not part of Nigeria?”

    About 67 per cent of Nigerian young children are at risk of poor development according to a Nurturing Care Framework developed by WHO, UNICEF and partners. With the burden of the humanitarian crisis in Benue, it appears the percentage is set to increase.

    As the reporter made to depart the Gbajimba IDP camp in Guma, her eyes met that of Ukenyo Gbosu, the oldest person in the camp who is said to be 117-year-old. In the light of the herdsmen attack, Ukenyo made it to the camp transported on a motor bike.

    Speaking through an interpreter, she described her experience in the camp as difficult. In her home, she plays with her grandchildren and they give her yam to eat, but now the yam is no more.

    She has also missed eating swallow and describes the unavailability of her choice delicacy as a challenge. Ukenyo gave birth to an only son, Udende, a prominent yam farmer in Ukyongu village who married three wives and has birthed 25 children.

     

    • Reporting made possible with funding from the International Centre for Journalists (ICfJ)
  • Stop Remembering What God Has Forgotten

    Stop Remembering What God Has Forgotten

    Girls…Girls… Girls, YOUR
    FUTURE IS VERY VERY GREAT,
    FORGET YOUR PAST!!!

    DEAR Aunty Temilolu, I lost my virginity 10 years ago and I am 20 years old now. I am in love with a guy who has proposed to marry me and I’ve been lying to him that I lost my virginity because I was raped. I was never raped. What happened was that my mother left us and ran away when I was six years old and I had to go and stay with my grandma. She brought in a distant relative to stay with us. I was too young to know that the lady was a prostitute. She was always taking me to men who would “play with me”. One day, a man “used me” and I saw blood coming out of my vagina. I didn’t know what it meant till I got to form 2 in secondary school when I learnt more about virginity. I cried so badly as it hurt me deeply. However, I gave my life to God at 16 and He’s shown me great love. But right now, I am still grievously hurt by my childhood experience. To worsen things, my guy insists on knowing how many men I’ve slept with as he’s a pastor and wants to be sure he’s not getting married to someone who has been passed around. I find it very hard to tell him all what happened as I love him very much and don’t want to lose him.

     

    My darling,

    You didn’t tell a lie. Penile penetration of a child aged 12 years and under is automatically rape whether the child believes they consented or not. No matter what you said, what you signed, how you responded, how your body reacted a child of 12 years and under cannot give consent to sexual interactions with anyone. We all have different attitudes to issues of life. You may not want to let him know what you went through in your childhood. In the first place, true love doesn’t care about the past. However, if a spouse-to-be insists on knowing some certain information about the woman he’s spending the rest of his life with, it is very foolish to lie about it. It’s better to speak the truth than for him to find out in future when you are married. If it’s a grave issue, it could land you into serious trouble and God may not appear on time because you turned your back against Him by lying in the first instance. If you speak the truth and the man refuses to go on with the relationship/marriage, then expect a super man – many times better than him as a compensation from God as long as you’ve re-traced your steps. However, you must forget the past.

     

    The past already happened; perpetually living there does you no good. Learn as many lessons from that occurrence then let it go. You will never be able to change it, however, you need to live in the now. Most often we feel a lot of anger towards someone for something they did to us or for their failure to do something for us. Or one of or both our parents treated us badly as a child. Whatever the reason, we are unforgiving and that precisely is the reason that a past event can engross our mind to the exclusion of other thoughts. That is unhealthy mentally unless we learn to forgive and free ourselves. If your mind is clogged with bitterness and you keep feeling guilty and sorrowful, how can you see what God has planned for you and enjoy the goodies?

     

    My darling, at 20, I think you are too young to be choked with man-trouble. I am very sure you have not even discovered yourself and yet to be done with your studies. Be happy and wallow in the wonderful opportunities you can have from God since you’re friends. Concentrate on your destiny and the best men will run after you if this one decides to leave you. Let this experience set you up to be a better, stronger, smarter person now.

    Now here’s a bear hug to you and other sisters who are haunted by their past and labelled all sorts…hmmm. I hope I was able to squeeze out the pall in your heart? Wipe your tears…smile. Now clap for yourselves because you are starting on a clean virtuous slate. Hip, hip, hip…hurray!

     

    Love Always,

    Apostle of Chastity

    I invite you to follow me on facebook –TEMILOLU OKEOWO (not Temilolu okeowo girls club or TEMILOLU OKEOWO Girls Club group).

    Scam Alert: Temilolu okeowo girls club page and group as well as Temilolu cares for you are fake facebook accounts.

  • Has Lagos forgotten Herbert Macaulay?

    Long before Lagos became a megacity famed for its remarkable resilience, a mega figure did mega things to advance its development and the progress of Nigeria.  Herbert Macaulay, widely acknowledged as the ‘Father of Nigerian Nationalism’, made his exit almost 71 years ago on May 7, 1946, at age 81, but his spirit is energetically alive.

    As Lagos State celebrates its 50th anniversary, which will climax on May 27, it is curious that Herbert Macaulay is not on the front burner.   Without doubt, he belongs to the category of all-time greats.  It is noteworthy that Herbert Macaulay is generally associated with the spirit of Lagos. Indeed, his history is inextricably connected with Lagos history and the history of Nigeria.

    It is thought-provoking that the year-long celebration of Lagos at 50 has no space for Herbert Macaulay, which is a reflection of how the present tends to obscure the past, although the past is part of the present.  To see the past in the present requires presence of mind as well as a keen appreciation of history and historical progression.  In other words, it may be said that the reality of today cannot be separated from the reality of yesterday.

    To underline the relevance of Herbert Macaulay and his indisputable place in the context of the Lagos festivities, it is worth highlighting his celebration in drama.  It is testimony to Herbert Macaulay’s stature and his role in Lagos history that Prof. Akinwunmi Isola considered it fitting to write a 2009 play titled Herbert Macaulay and the Spirit of Lagos. It is heart-warming that this play was staged as Convocation Play on March 20 by the Department of Theatre Arts and Music, Lagos State University (LASU), as part of the institution’s “21st Convocation Ceremonies.”

    But this play deserves a bigger stage and a bigger audience. This is the story that Isola retells: “The governor quarrels with the Eleko over many developmental problems and decides to banish him. Herbert Macaulay, supported by some concerned Lagosians, coordinates a relentless agitation. The success of that spirit is recorded in the monumental judgment of the Privy Council in favour of Lagosians which culminated in the triumphal return of the Eleko to Lagos from Oyo where he served his banishment.”

    Herbert Macaulay was born in Lagos on November 14, 1864. His father, Rev Thomas Babington Macaulay, was the founder and first principal of the CMS Grammar School, Lagos, established in 1859. His mother, Abigail Macaulay, was the daughter of Bishop Ajayi Crowther, the illustrious 19th century cleric who in 1864 was ordained as the first African bishop of the Anglican Church at a ceremony in England.

    Herbert Macaulay studied Civil Engineering in Britain. He qualified as a civil engineer in 1893, and he is recognised as the first Nigerian with such a professional qualification. He proudly attached the letters C.E. (Civil Engineer) to his name, and also practiced as an architect.

    In 1923, he launched the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), regarded as the first political party in Nigeria, following the amendment of the Nigerian Constitution in 1922, which allowed elected representatives for the Legislative Council and also created a municipal council in Lagos.  The NNDP dominated the political space for many years, and Herbert Macaulay, who was known as Mr. Democratic Party on account of his pivotal position in the party, earned the unchallenged appellation ‘Leader of Nigerian Politics.’ When the political situation took a new turn and the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) successfully challenged the dominance of the NNDP, Herbert Macaulay’s patriotic spirit promoted inter-party cooperation   as a necessity in the struggle for political freedom. The formation of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) in 1944 led to a political merger that saw Herbert Macaulay emerge as the party’s first President.

    In 1927, Herbert Macaulay and his friend, John Akinlade Caulcrick, a medical doctor and politician, bought The Lagos Daily News, a newspaper founded in 1925 by Victor Babamuboni, a Lagos bookseller and printer. Herbert Macaulay was an intense monitor of the issues of the day, and expressed his views vigorously in pamphlets and newspaper articles. For instance, he criticised the government’s policy on the liquor trade, the water-rate scheme, the plan to build a separate church for white government officials, and the press law, among others.

    Herbert Macaulay’s pamphlet in 1908 criticising the Lagos Railway prompted Governor Egerton to propose a law that would restrict the press. The pamphlet, titled ‘Governor Egerton and the Railway,’ focused on corruption among white officials of the Railway. The power of the pamphlet drew attention to Herbert Macaulay.  He also regularly launched attacks on the colonial administration through critical newspaper articles.

    Herbert Macaulay fought various battles against the British colonial government. He was an anti-colonial combatant by conviction and choice, for he could have followed the comfortable path of collaboration with the colonialists if he wished. His background and education placed him among the elite of Lagos society. He actually belonged to the circle from which the colonial government nominated African representatives to the Legislative Council.

    But Herbert Macaulay was not the personality-type that appealed to the British administration, which regarded him as too principled, too critical, too independent, too bold and too assertive.

    In style and manners, Herbert Macaulay was so polished that the people of Lagos referred to him as Oyinbo Alawodudu (white man in black skin). He was noted for his handle-bar moustache, well-cut suits and long bow ties. He described his moustache and bow tie as “parallel and inseparable.” He was known as ‘The Wizard of Kirsten Hall.’

    But Herbert Macaulay was a striking grassroots politician. He played important roles in the celebrated Apapa Land Case as well as the equally celebrated Eleko case, which ended in favour of indigenous interests and gave a big boost to his image as a champion of justice. Herbert Macaulay was known as ‘Champion and Defender of Native Rights and Liberties.’  No other politician of his time could match his rapport with the common people.  For instance, he cultivated the friendship of Madam Alimotu Pelewura, the powerful leader of the Lagos Market Women’s Association, and could easily count upon the support of thousands of market women in Lagos. The masses composed songs in honour of Herbert Macaulay.

    A July 1931 edition of West Africa painted a pen portrait of Herbert Macaulay: “He has a voice and a laugh which would be passports anywhere. The quickness, the energy, the comprehensiveness, with which he can write an article – or a book, if need be – or make a speech, or organise a demonstration, are incredible.”

    At Herbert Macaulay’s funeral in Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe, who succeeded him as NCNC leader, referred to him as “my political father.” Azikwe said in a graveside oration: “He has left an imperishable legacy, the struggle for the attainment of social equality, economic security, religious tolerance and political freedom.” This struggle continues today.

    This is the giant whose spirit deserves to be invoked as Lagos turns 50.  Perhaps something can still be done.

  • Inside a forgotten town

    Inside a forgotten town

    Without electricity, hospital, paved road or healthy water, Ungwar Maikanti near Kaduna city is no better than a Stone Age settlement, reports TONY AKOWE

    Every community has its well-off class. In Ungwar Maikanti, just 25 minutes away from Kaduna metropolis, the richest man owns a motorcycle. Its residents enjoy the bliss only the Stone Age offers.

    Women deliver their babies at home unaided. There is no medical personnel in sight. Only a lorry that probably comes to get firewood from the community plies the road into Ungwar Maikanti. There is no potable water, nor hospital, nor electricity. The only school there has never received any form of government attention since the residents built it in 1997.

    Located West of Rigasa in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State, the community, which is surrounded by Ungwar Daudu, Kwati and Rigar Fulani, is always cut off from other communities and the state capital for about two months during the rainy season because the only road to the state capital is always flooded.

    Aliyu Bala, the 70-year-old head of the community, said, “Our town usually gets cut off for about two months from other towns and villages around this area”.

    Pa Bala added that the predominantly Gbagyi farming community has about 3000 inhabitants but has been neglected over the years by successive governments.

    He said, “We have been here for centuries because my parents and forefathers spent their lives here. We have no social amenities in these communities. No road, no water, no hospital, even the school here was built with mud by our people without government support. We are farmers but we cannot transport out farm produce to nearby markets because of bad road. The water we drink here is so bad that it causes sickness to our people.”

    Investigations by The Nation revealed that the residents drink water from a pond which is located far from them. Women and children wake up early in the morning to get water which is not drinkable from the pond. Women trek a distance to fetch water from the pond.

    One of the residents of the community, Talatu Iliya said the water from the pond smells and is sometimes covered by dry leaves, “but that is what we use to cook because we have no choice”, she lamented, adding, their children complain of frequent stomach ache and also suffer from cholera.

    She said, “You can see the kind of water we drink. Even dogs wouldn’t drink from the pond. The water smells and that is what we use to cook our food”.

    There is only one water well in the village said to have been dug by a white lady who visited the community years back. But the people hardly get water from it. Women in the community complain that they can only get water from the well very early in the morning and that in most cases, they can hardly fetch more than a bucket of water from it. They have however decided to reserve the water in the well for the primary school children who attend the community primary school. They want government intervention by constructing a borehole for them to get water for their use.

    Another major problem confronting this community is lack of health facilities. Pregnant women in the community do not attend antenatal because of lack of a health centre.

    Elizabeth Jacob who identified herself as one of the women leaders in the community, said they have lost several women due to complications from childbirth and other pregnancy-related ailments.

    She said: “We’ve lost scores of women during pregnancy and childbirth, because we don’t have any place to take them for medical care if the pregnancy came with complications. Our women give birth at home without support from any birth attendant. We only give them herbs to drink”.

    One of the women who died from complications, was identified simply as Asabe. She was said to be in labour for several hours but without medical help, she passed on.

    Nobody owns a car in the community; only one person ows a motorbike.

    It is only in Rigassa that they can access  a primary health care centre. But it was night and at that time, the lorry was nowhere to be found.

    Two weeks after Asabe’s death, another woman and mother of four identified as Lami lost a child due to complications during childbirth.

    In the area of education, The Nation was informed that even the local government has never come to the aid of the only primary school in the area built through community effort. It was learnt that over 80 percent of the youth in the community have not gone beyond primary school level. One of Youth Leaders in the community, Jacob Maiunguwa said “Our youth have not gone beyond primary school which is why they end up unemployed. Some of them joined their parents in farming, but during dry season they become idle, doing nothing”. Chairman of School Based Management Committee (SBMC) Peter Alkali said the only school in the village has not received any learning material from both local and state governments since it was built by the community in 1997. He said: “the School lacks chairs and other teaching materials the pupils miss classes during rainy season, because the only route linking the community with others get flooded and so it’s not safe for them to attend classes”.

    A block of classroom constructed in the area was said to have collapsed due to failure by Igabi local government authority to roof the building.

    But the people are still hopeful that with the promise to revamp health facilities and construct new ones across the state, the stage government will remember them and build a health centre for them.

    They are also hopeful that the Senator representing them in the National Assembly, Senator Shehu Sani will come to their aid and provide them a functional borehole and clinic.

  • Inside the forgotten IDPs’ camp

    Inside the forgotten IDPs’ camp

    It hosts Displaced Persons fleeing from Boko Haram insurgents, but unlike other camps, Kuka Reta (IDPs) site is neglected, writes DUKU JOEL

     

    Driving past on Damaturu-Maiduguri Highway in Yobe State, the camp is unmistakable. The makeshift rounded shacks built with hardly more than discarded polythene sheets or straw hint that the occupants are far from having fun. In heat, they are in danger; in wet weather, comfort is unimaginable.

    The Kuka-Reta camp lies just 15km from Damaturu, the Yobe State capital. Its occupants fled from Boko Haram militants and pitched their tents there. Thousands of internally displaced people from Yobe and Borno states have been sheltering at Kuka-Reta in the most difficult of circumstances.

    The challenges of IDPs in other camps are well documented, but for those at Kuka-Reta, life seems a bit worse. They are on their own without any government presence.

    The Village Head of Kuka Reta, Alhaji Lawan Babagana said the camp was built by the IDPs themselves.

    He said, ”We decided to accept them here because they are our brothers. We speak the same language; we are from the same state. Borno and Yobe are the same so we are brothers. If we cannot accept them here, where would they run to?”

    Records indicate that over 127 villages from Borno and Yobe are taking refuge in this community with an explosive population of over 20,000 people including children.

    “Most of the people you are seeing here are from Kaga, Damboa, Benishiek, Gujba local government areas of Borno and Yobe State who ran out of their villages to settle in this place because of this Boko Haram wahala. There are over 127 villages that are in this place with a population of more than 5000 people in this village,” Lawan Babagana explained.

    A visit to the camp turns out to be more revealing and troubling as the people are crying for neglect from the two states governments of Borno and Yobe with the Federal Government not left out.

    One of the IDPs said, “The only governor that I know is the village head of Kuka-Reta who we always run to for help since we came into this village.“

    While their counterparts in Maiduguri and Damaturu are given at least some basic human needs like food and shelter, the story of Kuka-Reta is a complete opposite as the camp is devoid of any basic amenity.

    Like every other Boko Haram IDP, most of the displaced people at Kuka Reta scampered out of their communities without any contingency of food in place. Consequently getting a meal in the camp is hard for most families. Many of the families barely feed. A housewife at the camp told me that a small loaf of bread to them can save a lot of lives.

    Water is one major challenge faced by the displaced people. The only borehole that hitherto provides water to the original Kuka-Reta community is now being over-stretched just as it cannot satisfy the growing water need of the explosive population of humans and animals. The people have now resorted to drinking pond water hitherto meant for animals.

    There are also challenges in hygiene and access to health services, which is why the IDPs there, especially children, are frequently ill.

    Bad hygiene practices and lack of sanitation has made the IDPs vulnerable to cholera and other diseases. The absence of quality food, drugs and potable drinking water couple with hunger and  starvation is causing chronic and acute malnutrition to many of the children in the camp. Lack of modern toilet facilities at the camp is leading to an impending cholera outbreak as the people make use of shallow pit-latrines very close to where they sleep.

    After battling for some months through the rainy season and the strong wind and sand storms, the IDPs are now faced with the extreme heat with few vegetation to provide shade. With the strong hamattan wind about to set in there is a likehood of high deaths in the camps especially for children and the aged.

    Surviving at the Kuka-Reta IDP camp is more painful for some who were wealthy in their communities before they came to Kuka-Reta.

    A housewife who identified herself as Aisha from Kadauri Village in Gujba Local Government of Yobe State said that her husband now feeds the family of five from cutting firewood in the bush to sell.

    “We ate  the last food we had in the morning. My husband has gone to the bush to cut firewood to sell. It is after the sale of the firewood that he gets money to buy some food for us. We hardly get three square meal since we left our village. Look at my children (pointing at some three children who were crying apparently of hunger); apart from what they ate in the morning, they will have to wait till evening when their father returns from the firewood business,” Aisha explained.

    Investigations revealed that several deaths have occurred at the camp but unrecorded as the people just pray for their loved ones and bury them. One classical case that this reporter saw was the case of a twin that was abandoned by an unknown mother. Though one of the twins died apparently for lack of good medical care, the surviving one who is named Zainab is also facing serious health conditions as she looks visibly malnourished.

    While the school on wheel programme, an educational drive of the UNICEF in conjunction with the Presidential Initiative on North East(PINE) to mop up the growing population of out of school children at the IDPs’ camps in the three affected states, many of the school aged children at the Kuka Reta Camp have no such facility or the benefit to enroll in school.

    Investigation revealed that more than half of  the only primary school in the community is being taken over as an accommodation facility for the IDPs. Classes 1,2,3 & 4 now sit in one class room while the remaining 5 & 6 stay in the remaining class room.

    Security is one aspect of the camp that the people have taken it upon themselves. Checks revealed that the Village Head of Kuka Reta together with the Heads of Household at the camp have established a self-recognition security watch task force which has arrested more than 20 Boko Haram that have either tried to sneak into the camp or came in and were fished out by the people themselves.

    “With my vigilante members and the kind of system we have put in place, it is very difficult for any bad person to come here and cause problems for us. All the heads of household can identify and bad person among us and we have been successful so far. About 20 Boko Haram who try to come and stay here for any reason have been caught or reported to the soldier. But our greatest thanks is to Allah who has made our place peaceful since the Boko Haram attacks,” Lawan Babagana informed.

    One organisation that has alerted the world of the plight of the Kuka Reta IDPs is the Muslims Right Concern (MURIC).

    MURIC in a statement by its Executive Director Prof. Ishaq Akintola which was made available to newsmen blew the whistle that about 3,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Yobe State are currently in serious danger.

    “MURIC is constrained to raise the alarm on the frightening situation in Kuka Reta IDP camp in view of the dangers inherent in the exposure of IDPs to such inhuman conditions.

    “Apart from hunger, starvation, malnutrition and the likelihood of deaths, diseases such as cholera and diarrhea are likely to spread within the camp” read the statement.

    “MURIC is confounded by the enormity of the danger and hardship to which IDPs in Kuka Reta camp are exposed. We condemn this culpable negligence on the part of the authorities. We therefore call on the Yobe State Government, the state’s arm of the National Emergency Agency (NEMA) and all aids groups in the state to address the issue with military dispatch”, the statement said.

    Investigation gathered that few days after the MURIC alarm, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) went to Kuka Reta to give succor to the displaced people where they presented food and non-food relief materials to the people.

    Items distributed to the IDPs include; Rice, Millet, Maize, Guinea corn, Matrasses, vegetable oil, Palm Oil, Blankets and Detergents among others.

    The NEMA coordinator in Yobe state Alhaji Bashir Garga said the food and the non-food materials cost the Agency the sum of Five million naira.

    The Yobe State NEMA boss promised at the camp  that his agency will continue to respond to their  immediate needs  by providing food, shelter, and hygienic needs of the displaced in line with the internationally best practices.

    He noted that disaster management requires multi-dimensional and multi sectoral approval while seeking for collaboration from other partners in alleviating the sufferings of the people.

    Rising to her defence, Yobe State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) also disclosed that state has not left the IDPs at the Kuka Reta camp as being speculated.

     

  • Forgotten visually impaired students

    Forgotten visually impaired students

    Visual impairment is not the only concern of the School for the Blind Children located at 15, Audu Ogbeh Street, off Asheik Jarma Street, Abuja.

    Their environment is quiet and serene but there are mountains to climb if they must have good education. For instance, the students’ apartments are overcrowded because their population keeps increasing.

    Their study materials, brailled books, for instance, cost far more than the ones for sighted learners.

    Also, they study in the dark because there is no power generating set for them.

    Their motto, “Slowly but surely for the Blind”, conspicuously written on their signpost, is ironical, as their education seems to be in reverse gear.

    Though the school is strategically positioned, not too far from the Central Business District (CBD), it is rarely noticed, neither are its dire needs.

    Some of the items the school needs are hostel blocks, food, study materials such as brail paper, and braille machine, among others.  Another important issue about the school is its increasing population and co-habitation of mature students in single apartments.

    Despite its location close to the seat of power, the needs of this special group remained unattended to.

    Unfortunately, getting the learning materials for these special students could be very expensive, unlike what obtained in the conventional schools. While a textbook sells for about N1,000, the same textbook with brail may sell for N4,000.

    In the circumstances, the indigent pupils mostly depend on philanthropists, donors and non-governmental organisations (NGO) to survive.

    Our correspondent gathered that the students study in darkness, a situation that compounds their already pitiable situation.

    The school has no alternative power supply such as power generating set.

    “In the first place, we don’t read with light which is not the right thing. If there is darkness and a snake is crawling, how will one know? But since there is nothing we can do, we resign to fate,” the Assistant Head teacher, Academics, Mrs. Anne Ekandem said.

    Incidentally, our correspondent was seated when one of the members of the support staff brought in a five-litre keg of kerosene, while another member of staff was asked to take it to the hostel.

    From all indications, they were already used to the poor reading environment as efforts to get immediate attention of the Federal Capital Territory Authority (FCTA) SUBEB yielded no result.

    “They don’t have any option. They do their prep in the cover of darkness. It is not as if we like it but that’s the best option for now.

    “Even, they eat in the dark; there is nothing they can do.

    “If there is no light, you will see the matron bathing some of them with torch light,” Ekandem said.

    The school authorities also pleaded to the authorities to supply them with plastic tables and chairs. The management said such gesture would reduce the possibility of the students harming themselves.

    “Getting some of these materials is challenging. The government had tried in their way. Like this brail, it is not something you can just pick, they are things you place special order for and they can be very expensive,” one of the members of staff said.

     

    Expectations from

    the pupils

     

    Investigations by our correspondent revealed that all the pupils have the zeal to learn. Wondering why the pupils showed much enthusiasm despite their conditions, the assistant head teacher said: “Initially when the blindness set in, they must have been asking, where this will get us to? Just like their parents.

    “They have the quest for education and they have realised that the sky is their limit such that they can compete with other students in other schools.”

    Sadly, John Kaura, a 32-year-old student has been blind for 22 years. He was the oldest among other students in the rehabilitation centre of the school. Yet, he was full of optimism. He wants to be a lawyer as soon as he finishes his programme. Obviously, he appeared much more than his age. His school uniform was no different from the other younger boys and girls. He was putting on a black pair of sandals with a sagged black pair of socks.

    Narrating his ordeal, he said he became blind at the age of 11.

    “I’m here to learn. I was in Kaduna when the incident happened at the age of 11. I went with my grandmother to the market but unfortunately, I missed my way and somehow I had accident at the railway crossing. I would have been here for long but someone later told me about this school,” he said.  On his plans after graduation, he said: “I want to become a lawyer or mass communicator”.

    John urged other disabled persons to embrace education in order to be self-reliant rather than waiting for supports that may not come.

    A 12-year-old student, Esther Nnabuife, praised the school for showing them love. Her colleague, Honest Oyeama, 17, joined the school last year. He described the activities as challenging, even as they are encouraging. He plans to be a Sport Journalist. They all have wonderful ambitions and interesting stories.

     

    Why the school

    was established

     

    Established in 1991, the FCT School for the Blind was set up to provide education for the less-privileged persons; especially the blind. Admission into the school is free and government is expected to provide the necessary items in the school. Admission into the school is almost on daily basis while government takes care of the teaching and non-teaching members of staff.

    “We run a primary education and we run a rehabilitation centre for adults or teenagers; who became blind in the course of their education; whether tertiary at level or while working.

    “It can be very challenging, especially when they are fresh students. They feel hopeless and don’t know what life has in store for them. They feel they have come to the end of the road. But by the time they finish their courses of study here, they are full of hope, ready to go into the larger world to face the challenges of nation-building,” a member of staff said.

    She attributed poor background of the pupils as one of the major challenges the school experiences.

    “When they are leaving, we still try to provide some of the necessary materials for them to take along to the secondary school because they cannot get the same provision they got here,” our source said.

    According to her, there is no special secondary school for the blind, so their interest could not be guaranteed.

     

    Read and Play

     

    All works and no play, they say, makes Jack a dull boy. Aside from the conventional learning process, the pupils also engage in extra-curricular activities. They were said to engage in foot balling, bead making, necklaces and soap making. Also, some private individuals also visit the school to teach them how to bake bread while they participate in literary and debating competitions, singing and melo-drama.

    “We need a lot of learning materials such as the brail paper. We need enough seats. We prefer the student-type of plastic chairs so it won’t tear their clothes.

    “They live here. We feed them in the morning, afternoon and night. We don’t have a generator in the hostel. What if they take the power, you will see the matron bathing them with torch light.

    “They do it in the cover of darkness,” she said.

    However, the school management called for supports from humanitarians, corporate organisations, NGOs, and faith-based organisations (FBOs), among others to assist the less-privilege children.

    Meanwhile, efforts to get the reaction of the Chairman, FCT SUBEB to comment on the matter were unproductive.

  • Help on the way for ‘forgotten’ Lagos communities

    Help on the way for ‘forgotten’ Lagos communities

    Decades of seeming government neglect could be about to end for the people of the Island communities of Agboyi I,II and III, Ketu, Lagos as the Rotary Club of Ogudu Government Reservation Area (GRA), drawing support from sister Rotary clubs in the United States, has pledged to ameliorate their suffering. ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE reports.

    Four months after the searchlight was beamed on the deplorable living conditions of the Awori people of Agboyi  in Agboyi-Ketu Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos State by The Nation newspaper on April 9, help is  on the way for the three riverside communities.

    Moved by the report, which revealed poor sanitation, lack of potable water, dilapidated health facilities, crumbling classrooms, poor public toilet facilities and other public infrastructure, including transportation in the 500-year-old communities, members of the Rotary Club of Ogudu GRA went on a fact finding mission to the area last Tuesday and were shocked by what they saw.

    Asked about her impression after the  mission to Agboyi I, II and III, a Charter member of the Club, Chief Mrs Onikepo Oshodi, was damning in her verdict: “Life (at the three Agboyi communities) is brutal, bad and unfortunate.” For her, the standard of living of the residents  is unacceptable.

    Not that they had expected to meet some comfort at the communities having read this newspaper’s earlier report on Agboyi, but what they saw was even more shocking than what they read.

    To them, it was mind boggling that a community so close to Ketu in the metropolis, and with even a Local Council Development Area (LCDA) named after it, could be so backward in all indices of development, just because it is an island.

    Though Mrs. Oshodi said she had been to Agboyi in the past for a similar assessment, she like other members of the club’s project committee, among who were the current president, Mrs. Fikayo Tunde-Ojo, the in-coming president, Mrs. Fidel Oguwazor, Treasurer, Mr. Hakeem Adesanya and Chairman, ‘We Care’ of the club, Mrs. Ojinika Okeke, were shocked at the very low standard of living of the people.

    Done with the initial fears as they entered the canoe that took them to Agboyi III – which was just a shouting distance from Alapere jetty, which the people have re-Christened  Agboyi-odo – they were appalled that the corrugated structure that dots the waterfront were toilets, where the people defecates. Same structures, three in all, built on stilts, were also replicated in Agboyi II and Agboyi I.

    One of the elders of the town, who had come to welcome the August visitors, and guide them around, Prince Adewale Seriki, told the Rotarians: “70 to 80 percent of residents of these communities use these toilets, which also serve as bathrooms. Others make use of potty, which they come to empty into the river, but everyone uses these places to bath. Early in the morning, women could be seen with wrappers tied round their chest as they take turns to take their baths.”

    Seriki had barely finished his narrative, when the visitors were assailed with some children splashing away in the water, as they take their baths, applying soap on their bodies and swimming to wash the foams off. “In this era of infectious diseases, this place is a rich reservoir for any outbreak of epidemic,” Mrs Oshodi stated with some finality.

    The team made the short distance between Agboyi III and Agboyi II, on dung of wastes as the entire environment was littered with all manner of waste, prompting the team to inquire whether the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) PSP waste operators ever visit the communities.

    At Agboyi II, the project team inspected the Agboyi Primary School, (which houses primary four to six), which was still in good condition.

    In front of the school was a borehole facility that residents said has never been used since it was commissioned. Though the facility which was said to have been executed by a foreign group had a water treatment facility, it was never put to use as the water produced was salty. “We couldn’t drink the water because it was salty. Borehole fails here, not because we do not have underground water, but because the water is bad. It is heavily polluted by iron, which makes it salty,” Seriki said.

    The group later visited Agboyi 1, where they inspected the only Maternity Centre that serves the three communities. They were told the electricity generating set provided by Path 2 in collaboration with the United Kingdom Aid agency (UKAid), (two foreign health based non-governmental organisations) is in top shape, and works anytime the LCDA provides the fuel.

    The group expressed happiness that Agboyi Primary School which houses Primaries One to Three which was in a very bad state last April when The Nation was in the settlement is undergoing some rehabilitation. Not only was the four-room one block of classrooms being rebuilt, the roof has been removed, as new logs were being put in place to give way for new aluminum roofing sheet. The project it was learnt began on July 14.

    The group which ended their tour with a visit to the palace of Baale of Agboyi II, Alhaji (Chief) Taiwo Lamina, praised the chief for keeping the communities peaceful in spite of the dehumanizing challenges that their residents have been facing.

    Speaking for the group, Chairman of the Projects Committee, Mrs Oshodi said though the Club has compiled a list of 10 riverside communities within its area of jurisdiction which it intended to assist, it decided to begin with Agboyi communities because their living conditions have been one of the most parlous.

    She said: “We hope that the communities would assist us in seeing to the realisation of our dreams of a better life for riverside dwellers. Though we have read of your plight in the newspapers which informed the moves we have made to ensure that we secure international support from other sister Rotary clubs in America to collaborate with us; we have come and we have seen with our eyes and we have come to the conclusion that indeed you deserve an intervention and urgently too.”

    She said the committee embarked on the visit not only to assess the needs of the people but to also hear from them what their needs are.

    And after listening to them, she told the Baale that her group had reached the conclusion that the people needs among others, a concrete footbridge linking Agboyi III to Alapere. Beside the bridge would be laid water pipes from the Lagos State Water Corporation’s water mains across the river at Alapere, which would be a final solution to the unavailability of potable water to the over 3,000 residents of the three communities.

    Other needs of the people she pointed out were sanitation which was divided into two-fold – provision of two blocks of six pit latrines and bathrooms each; for the three communities and the provision of at least three incinerators one each for the three communities to address waste disposal.

    On health, Mrs Oshodi lamented the trouble the communities’ pregnant women go through during child birth as the maternity runs only between 8am and 5pm.

    She said one of the nurses told the team they give referral notes to pregnant women once they get to week 36, adding that it is unacceptable that women would be put inside canoe and paddled to Ketu or Alapere before they could access healthcare.

    Mrs. Oshodi who expressed dismay that many of the pregnant women still patronize traditional birth attendants (TBA) at this age, said the Club would look into the request of the nurses to provide at least one labour room and two extra rooms for expectant mothers’ relations, so that the nurses could work also at night and relieve the women the agony they go through at child birth.

    She wondered how the maternity had been meeting its mandate to serve pregnant women and take deliveries when the only room provided for the purpose had allegedly been turned into a pharmacy where drugs were dispensed to patients.

    She assured that these projects would begin within the next six weeks provided the people are willing to provide her team with land to site them. She equally expressed the desire of the Club to provide classroom furniture and exercise books for about 300 primary school pupils in the three communities, who she said needed to be supported with such materials to make learning fun.

    “We saw some pupils who are being taught by some of your children in higher institutions and we are happy about that development. We, however, observed that the classrooms need more furniture and some of the pupils do not have exercise books while others who had only had one. We are therefore assuring you that our Club would provide your children with classroom furniture and these pupils would be given exercise books,” Mrs Oshodi said.

    She sought the community’s assistance and support to ensure the smooth take off of these projects adding that as part of encouraging local entrepreneurship, residents of the communities would be engaged by the Club to put these things in place. Mrs Oshodi said the Club would equally address the link footbridge between Agboyi 11 and Agboyi 1, which has become a death trap.

    The bridge, she said, would have aluminum railings to protect lives and prevent accidents.

    In his response, the Baale, Alhaji Lamina praised the group for their interest in alleviating the plight of the people of Agboyi. Lamina who prayed for the team asked God to make all their dreams for his people achievable, even as he pledged the commitment of all the elders and people of the three communities to the projects.

    He said the people would be willing to donate land to the Club for the execution of the projects as everyone is interested in ensuring a lift in their standard of living once the projects are in place.

    “We are very happy when our children told us of your visit. We are honoured to have you because we know you and your antecedents. We have no doubt that you will help us just as you have pledged. We are equally committed to ensuring the success of these projects and we shall provide you with all that you need to make all these dreams possible.

    “As you have identified, our main problem is potable water. We have relied over the years on sachet water (pure water) and bottled water for our sustenance. Only God knows how much we commit to this everyday in the three communities. If you can do the pedestrian bridge for us and provide pipe borne water it would have taken 70 percent of our stress in these communities away.

    “If these are coupled with addressing the challenges our women face during child bearing and give us a labour room, you would have helped us greatly. This added to the steps you want to take on the pedestrian bridge and education would make us seriously indebted to your Club,” Lamina said.

    The Baale who lamented the long years of neglect of his people by the government, urged other well meaning humanitarian clubs to take a cue from the Rotary International and partner with other blighted communities whose people are facing herculean challenges and life has become almost unbearable.

    Also speaking Mr Kehinde Ladega praised the club for coming to the aid of the people of Agboyi.

    “It is salutary that all these are coming to our people not because we pressed any special button, but because they read of our plight in the newspapers just like any other reader had.”

    President of Agboyi Student Union (ASU) Comrade Yusuf Muideen Ajigi said the intervention of Rotary International in the town was a welcome development. “What is most welcoming to all of us especially the students and youths of the town is that the club is promising to address virtually all the problems besetting the people of Agboyi 1, Agboyi 11 and Agboyi 111. All of these we need to emphasize are coming because they read of our plight in The Nation newspaper. While we are thanking the club, we must equally praise that newspaper for being the vanguard of the downtrodden,” Ajigi said.