Hunger, frustration at Kebbi flood victims’camp
Months after a threehour rainfall devastated some communities in Birnin Kebbi, the Kebbi State capital, many of the flood victims are still nursing their wounds and pains. Some of them, who spoke to Daily Trust on Sunday at their camp, could not hold back tears while narrating their ordeal.
At the wake of the incident, over 3,000 men, women and children were camped inside the classrooms of Salamatu Girls’ Secondary School in Birnin Kebbi. The state government had relocated the victims to the camp as a temporary measure to cushion the effect of the damage the rain had visited on their houses and other properties. The State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) said 1,300 houses and other properties were lost to the flood.
While undertaking an on-thespot assessment of the situation in one of the affected areas in BayanKara on that fateful day, Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu disbursed money and gave food items and other relief materials to some of the affected people. He also directed relevant government agencies to see to the immediate needs of those at the camp.
However, when our correspondent visited the camp for the displaced persons, there was expression of hunger, disappointment and anger in the faces of the men, women and children. They complained of neglect, lack of food, water and all the basic things they need to survive at the camp. They said that when they were brought to the camp, they expected their needs to be met.
Aisha Adamu, a widow, said she was taken to the camp with her three children. “I have been staying here with my three children for over two months. There is no food, no water and other necessary needs. You people should help us to appeal to them to pay attention to our needs here because we are dying of hunger.”
Also speaking, Abdullahi Husaini told our correspondent that the state government acted well the day the flood incident happened, but its sudden change towards their plight has made things worse for them in the camp.
“The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Babale Yauri, visited the camp twice. The chief of staff to the governor, Alhaji Muhammed Suleiman Argungu and the sole administrator of Birnin Kebbi Local Government also came. When we were brought here, we had to wait for three to four days before they could bring us 10 bags of rice. Some of us got one and half bowls of rice while some got two. A week after, they brought another 20 bags of rice for the 681people at the camp then to share. Some of us got three bowls of rice while some got four. Since then, for over two months now, they did not bring any food for us again. As I speak to you now, life is very hard for us in this camp because there is nothing for us to eat and drink. Many of us have nothing left; the flood took everything we had away. Some of us have up to six, seven.
“There are still many of us who presently have nowhere to go back to because we have nothing left,” he said.
“I don’t think we need this protocol for relief materials to be released to us. All we want is food, and we have been crying to NEMA, UNICEF, Doctors without Borders and SEMA. Let them also give us a place to sleep because most of us don’t have a place to sleep. They only gave us mats, mosquito nets, blankets and 120 litres of jerry can to fetch water. Doctors without Borders tried by bringing drugs for us. And there are nurses who also attend to us every day, but can we take drugs on empty stomachs? Many people here don’t get cure from their ailments. Those who are diabetic continue to eat what they are not supposed to eat because there’s no alternative. There’s neither electricity nor light here,’’ Oseni said.
One of the nurses, Cynthia, who attended to the displaced persons said, “The situation of things here is very poor. When they get sick and we treat them, they don’t get well because they are not feeding well. On a daily basis, many of them are treated for malaria, diarrhea and all sorts of sicknesses. We are just trying our best because since we started treating them, we have not been paid the transport allowances they promised us. Most times we had to trek from our houses to the camp to treat people at the camp. This is how we have been suffering here. Now, the people are telling us that they no longer need drugs to cure them of their sickness; what they need is food.”
In his response, the acting executive director of SEMA, Alhaji Abbas Rabiu Kamba, said government was doing its best to meet the needs of the flood victims.
“The wellbeing of the flood victims is a major priority to the state government, and everything is being done to achieve that. We have contacted relevant humanitarian agencies to support us,” Kamba said.