By Iliyasu Gadu, Ilgad2009@gmail.com
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Maiduguri (also called Yerwa) is a sprawling city rich in history, culture and commerce. As the capital of the old Kanem-Bornu Empire, its fame and influence extended to the modern republics of Chad, Cameroon and Niger. Its commercial tentacles also extend beyond these countries into as far as Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo. By most accounts the city is the second largest after Kano in the Northern part of the country in terms of size, population and commercial activities.
At the time of writing this piece, about half the city of Maiduguri lies in ruins. It has been laid low not by the bombing raids of Boko Haram which had been terrorizing the city for over two decades now without success. No, the city was devastated by massive floods of scriptural proportions; only that this time there was no time to prepare an Ark. And the flood was not due to massive rainfall which happens at this time of the year. The flood was due largely to the collapse of the Alau Dam which burst its water levels and emptied its entire content on the city, devastating whole neighbourhoods of the metropolis.
Lives, residential houses, business premises, animals in the city’s zoo, cars and vehicles were not spared. The flood proved to be no respecter of persons and status as the historic and picturesque palace of the Shehu of Borno, the palatial houses and Mai Deribe and Mohammed Indimi, the two leading tycoons of the city as well some government buildings were caught in the floods.
Such was the massive destruction that as of today with the floods having subsided, tally of lives and properties lost are still undetermined by the authorities. It sufficed to say that at the end of the day the tally of destruction can only be estimated as no barometer of measurement can quantify the number of lives and properties lost.
What is incontrovertible however is that the Maiduguri flood was not a natural happening, as with some floods in Nigeria. It occurred due to deliberate negligence by people whose duty it is to exercise due diligence over it.
Built about 30 years ago, the Alau dam was conceived as a source of livelihood to the people that live along the banks of the River Ngadda. It was meant to provide them with water for irrigation and also to help stem the frequent floods that occur during the rainy season. The history of the dam was plagued with controversy right from the beginning. The firm that originally won the contract to build the dam however pulled out because it did not agree with certain specifications that were presented. The Chief Project Engineer felt that if the firm went ahead and built the dam based on the specifications, it was likely to do a shoddy job that will eventually result in what happened in Maiduguri sooner or later.
But the dam was built anyway despite the objections and pulling out of the project by the original contractor. Having built the dam, the next challenge was to maintain it especially as there a lot of structural issues that needed tuning up periodically. For instance, the yearly build-up of silt on the river and the dam itself needed cleaning up. There was also the need to check the integrity of the concrete and steel structures of the dam to ensure that they stood firm. And if there are cracks and rusting of the steel structure these have to be reinforced or replaced. There was also the requirement to frequently check the level of water so as to either redirect it or find other uses for it.
All these were necessary because a dam, like any man-made structure, is not fool proof and requires periodic maintenance in order to determine its integrity.
Various reports that have come to light following the unfortunate incidence say that over the years since the dam was built hundreds of millions of naira have been budgeted for maintenance purposes. But as our experience with such projects in Nigeria has shown, these funds could indeed be budgeted on paper, the reality however may just be different. The truth is that if truly such funds were spent for the purposes budgeted and due diligence done on the project we would not have ended up with such a catastrophic event.
As it is, due to criminal neglect of a project of this magnitude, we have now harvested an avoidable disaster of such massive magnitude that will further worsen the dire situation of Maiduguri residents and indeed the people of Borno state. Before this incident, Maiduguri has been the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency which has taken a severe toll on lives and livelihoods of the people. Millions have been displaced and are now living in Internally Displaced Camps (IDP). After the traumatic humanitarian effects of the last two decades life was gradually returning to Maiduguri and Borno and the people were struggling to pick up the pieces of their lives to start all over.
The tragic flood will unfortunately open another chapter in the suffering of the people. In addition of the lives lost, thousands are now displaced as their residents have either been washed off or rendered uninhabitable. There is also the danger of epidemics as drainages, grave yards, sewages have been flooded, overrun and emptied out. This raises the problem of safe drinking water and foodstuff.
The responses from Nigerians and foreign individuals and institutions have been commendable. So far aid and assistance have been flowing in great numbers. This is a catastrophe that cuts across religion, ethnicity and political divides. Due to the magnitude of the incident, I believe every Nigerian may be affected one way or the other due mainly to the fact that Maiduguri’s importance transcends its immediate areas.
The abiding lessons of the Maiduguri floods is that it could happen anywhere in Nigeria due to our proclivity to neglected infrastructure. Across the country, there are dams like the one built in Maiduguri which were built similarly and who also suffer the same neglect over the years. Year in year out, warnings have been issued out about the imminence of floods but they are never heeded. As happened in Maiduguri, we always hear of assurances by officials whose responsibility it is to exercise due diligence, but it always happens anyway. For now that lives and livelihoods have been lost in the tragic occurrence in Maiduguri, the best we can do is to investigate the entire project from its beginning to date and apply consequence management. We should also subject the other dams to immediate integrity tests in order to prevent such occurrence in future. We should also review entirely our emergency management procedures. It was clear from what happened in Maiduguri that our emergency management system is not top notch as many days after those affected are still in need of assistance. We must also not fail to commend some members of the Armed Forces and security agencies for their valiant roles in helping to come to the aid of the victims under trying circumstances.
Finally, my heart felt commiserations to victims of this tragic environmental disaster and to the people and government of Borno State.
Iliyasu Gadu, a former Foreign Service Officer who served at the Nigerian Missions in Germany and the United Kingdom (UK), is a columnist with Daily Trust