Skip to main content

Kaduna IDPs cry out over Deplorable Conditions




By DANGWA DANJUMA

Lack of basic education, sanitation, healthcare facilities and access to portable water supply have hit Gwagwada, a host community camping over 300 households displaced from fifteen villages in Chikun Local Council of the state.

Speaking at the flag off of relief materials distribution for the internally displaced persons (IDPs), the Village Head of Gadani, Mr Bitrus Tsauri disclosed: “Since they arrived, the wells which have been the sure source of water for several households in the community have dried up; the solar powered borehole is only providing drips of water necessitating most residents to seek drinking water from streams. Our two public primary schools and healthcare facility are currently inadequate and may be unsafe, especially with the coronavirus pandemic that Kaduna state is still counting cases”. He confirmed that those who can farm, have been provided land to start over again; there is still the worry however, for those who are unable to farm due to health related challenges and sustained injuries.

...the wells which have been the sure source of water for several households in the community have dried up; the solar powered borehole is only providing drips of water necessitating most residents to seek water from streams. Our two public primary schools and healthcare facility are currently inadequate and may be unsafe, especially with the coronavirus pandemic that Kaduna state is still counting cases

The village head listed communities affected by the protracted banditry to include, Kugosi, Kajari, Katarma, Kankwana, Tawali, Kasauyi, Kuduru, Kugo 1 and 2, Four-Thirty and others  Gofa, Kagamai, Togu, Sheshokwa, and Kachere. “All these people have fled to Gwagwada. Two communities have been here for about a year now and the worsening situation has seen an influx of more refugees'', adds Tsauri.

A nursing mother of 28 from Kajari, Maimuna Ayuba (not her real name)  expressed gratitude to the community who have accommodated them in their homes, “even with the scarcity of water and our reliance on streams, inadequate boarding facilities, we are happy to be here. We are thankful that here we can afford to sleep at night and be at peace at day.

Non functional borehole installation in Gwagwada Community
Non functional Community Water Scheme in Gwagwada - the host Community of the IDPs

“We are all using one Primary Healthcare Centre in Gwagwada, they are trying for us nursing mothers. For every healthcare challenge, we go there first. However, in the case of complications, it is nearly impossible for women and the aged in the community because of access road. When the schools finally open we do not know what will happen to our children, but we are happy being here.” , Maimuna Ayuba enthused.

...it is nearly impossible for women and the aged in the community because of access road. When the schools finally open we do not know what will happen to our children, but we are happy being here.

The affected communities are rural dwellings of non seasonal farmers some of whom were persuaded to take up the old style of livelihood after closure of textiles and other manufacturing industries over the years are worried about how soon they can return to their homes. The concern that the end is not in sight is the greatest fear the communities are facing. There have been recent cases of kidnaps, abductions, extortions and broad daylight robberies of persons who have dared to come around the villages to pick up their items of value.

An influential farmer who pleaded for anonymity, gave insight into the situation: “Very armed bandits in their hundreds on motorcycles, invaded our communities  countless times.  There hasn’t been any occasion where there was no kidnapping, robbery and rape. We reported these concerns to our traditional leader, in each security response, the bandits will run, only to return again, kill and kidnap people for ransoms as high as one million naira and punish the people for seeking help. Later we were paying more. With the increased level of killings after our impoverishment as a result of extortions, we fled the villages and neighbouring communities followed suit.”

A spiritual leader and cleric,narrates the ordeal of the community, ”Kidnappings and attacks on the defenceless communities evolved to broad day, morning and night attacks to the point where private property and places of worship were threatened. It is unfortunate that several clerics have kept away from the communities due to the incessant abductions, killings and rape that have brought untold hardship to the rural dwellers and host communities. The people who hitherto, lived in despair; have now found refuge in Gwagwada”.

Only the presence of a security formation and operational base in Gadani and Chikun villages will keep the marauders at bay

Maiwada Rabiu, one of the beneficiaries, who had taken to farming and the peace of rural dwelling after his twenty five year employment ended without benefits following the closure of the textile industry in Kaduna State has this to say: “The attacks began with neighbouring communities. The bandits will pass through without doing us harm; they assured us that we were not the community they were after.  As villagers began to leave, they turned to us. We started witnessing kidnappings and the rustling of cattle we use for farming.  Currently, about 143 bulls belonging to individuals in the community have been rustled in the past few years. This reduced our productivity even before the wanton killings and burning of property began." 

The distribution of relief materials donated to the affected households by United States Agency for International Development’s Nigeria Early Recovery Initiative (USAID/NERI) in collaboration with Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) targeted 300 households to benefit from the items provided for the internally displaced persons (IDP) in Gwagwada.

While responding to concerns over perceived exclusion, the project’s leader of NERI, Chikodinaka Omokhide explained that , ”The beneficiaries were captured based on head counts conducted by SEMA which we later validated and have arrived at the targeted number of households and persons to  benefit from the relief items.” Omokhide reaffirmed the commitment of the project to peace building, conflict prevention and resettlement of communities ravaged by banditry and other forms of insecurity.

The Executive Secretary, SEMA, Abubakar Hassan expressed delight over NERI’s support of the intervention. "Since my assumption of office, SEMA has scaled up its response and works closely now with partners and stakeholders who can proffer the needed solution towards addressing the humanitarian crisis in Kaduna State for effective disaster risk reduction. The Kaduna state government, through reforms, has taken decisive steps to enhance security and peace building", Hassan added.

Only the presence of a security formation and operational base in Gadani and Chikun villages will keep the marauders at bay. Until then, the Gwagwada community will continue to remain in need of  infrastructure development.  Supplies, equipment for basic healthcare, education, water and sanitation facilities even as Kaduna State continues to record new Covid-19 cases is nearly non-existent owing to population explosion.


Comments

  1. Hmmm it's true ooh all those things u mention we don't have them in our community you are very right and if probably they will hear us and solve it out to the country we will be much happy

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why States may be unable to pay new minimum wage -Commissioner

Citizens listening with rapt attention  By YUSUF GOJE C ommissioner, Planning and Budget Commission Kaduna state, Mohammed  Sani Dattijo has queried the rationale behind the proposed upward review  of the minimum wage, which he said compels even states that are not  viable to play ball. Making the assertion at the  recently concluded Citizens' Consultation forum on Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2019-2021  held in Kaduna, Dattijo said:"The minimum wage should be moved from the  exclusive to the concurrent list, even though Kaduna state is  healthier than most states, there are states that cannot afford the  increase in minimum wage. If this is not done, the increase in minimum wage will only be on paper but difficult to implement by many states, resulting in labor disputes". He stressed that the exclusiveness of this piece of  legislation which empowers only the Federal government to de...

When competence matters in leadership recruitment

  President Muhammadu Buhari DANGWA Danjuma T he tension that greeted Peter Obi’s walk out on the People’s Democratic Party included the concerns on availability of another competent partyman who will be worthy of the demand for the incorruptible leader to emerge vis a vis deputize when the chips are down. This also has been made easy by governor of Ebonyi, Engineer Dave Umahi’s exit from the party who would have stood out in the event that Obi falled shy of the Vice Presidential slot.  This box around the party, underpinned by an outcry for national unity by nominating the  South Eastern  deputy in the second attempt of Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President, to dismiss the two term era of the incumbent All Progressive Congress on the premise that a good number of Nigerians will reconsider the PDP as a better alternative.  However, viable options exist outside the South East for the PDP, particularly in the Niger Delta where state governors under the party hav...

N81.68bn Supplementary Budget: Matters Arising!

By YUSUF GOJE R egardless of the good intention - anything for us, without us, cannot be for us. I have been wondering if the Open Government Partnership (OGP) commitment one (Open Budget) covers supplementary budgets in Kaduna state.. The proposed supplementary budget of 81.68bn before the Kaduna State House of Assembly (KSHoA) is about 51.8% of the total 2019 approved budget of N157.45bn; which when passed will take the budget for the year to about N230bn. This is said to be from the World Bank loan approved for Kaduna state. While I have no personal issue with the loan, because it has a clause that makes it non-discretional (tied to projects) and we are ready as civil society to track its utilization; over the past three years, even with the OGP in place, we have been having supplementary budgets passed without citizen's engagement and inputs, more so, without their initial knowledge. We usually become aware of it just before or after KSHoA passes it into ...

Coalition urges COP-27 to fast track advocacy against Climate Change

  Participants in a group photograph after the event in Kaduna By EDDY OCHIGBO,  A  coalition  of environmental organizations in Kaduna, under the aegis Extinction Rebellion (XR) - a global movement which seeks to persuade governments to act justly on climate change and ecological emergency - has hosted a pre-COP27, in partnership with Bridge-that-Gap Initiative, to galvanize the campaign against climate change, as the   the 27th Conference of Parties slated for Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt kicks off. In an exclusive interview with NATIONAL ACCORD, one the coordinators of the event in Kaduna metropolis, Mr Zinta Akpoko, revealed that  COP27, Egypt could become a turning point of the campaign, given that forerunners of the conference have since pledged to relentlessly push to prioritize climate financing for developing nations.  "The effect of climate change is very evident and we need to be very frank  by telling the truth about the inherent dangers tha...

Fiscal responsibility: Kaduna State's debt burden and unrealistic budgeting

By YUSUF ISHAKU GOJE T he budget is said to be the second most important document outside the constitution, without which even the constitution cannot fully function. It enables governments to turn campaign promises articulated as policies into concrete public services that seek to improve the overall living standard of the people. That is why it remains the most critical socio-economic policy tool that outlines the government's priorities in financial terms. The extent to which the government's proposed spending sticks to what it has projected as realistic revenue makes a budget credible. Therefore, it also becomes a measurement of government's sincerity and capacity to deliver on campaign promises. More importantly, the credibility of any budget depends on its realism, as you cannot spend what you cannot get. That means for a budget to be realistic it has to be substantially achievable. However, politicians are always under pressure to spend more, most times overshooting ...