Ginzo Community: Five Decades of Untold Hardship, Neglect
For five decades, the Ginzo Community in Katsina State has suffered untold hardship and neglect as a result of dearth of basic social amenities. Francis Sardauna writes that the state government needs to beam its rural transformational searchlight to amel
This community has over 500 residents but we share a stream with our animals. We lack all basic amenities that should make life easier for us. Beside the school, you can see the hospital. It has been under lock and key for sometime now
Virtually everything that makes life bearable cannot be found in Ginzo Community of Jibia Local Government, Katsina State, where residents seemingly live like second-class citizens. From the crisis on ground, they have been ' systematically discriminated' against in the state as basic social amenities such as potable water, electricity, good roads, schools and healthcare facilities are alien to the community.
An elderly man in the community, Aminu Ginzo, who wept uncontrollably while narrating their ordeal to THISDAY said: "For about 50 years, this community has been in darkness. Only few houses are with generators and it pains to see people rushing to those few places to charge their phones.
“Look at that school, it fell off some years back. It was residents of this community that donated money to raise some part because there is need for our kids to be in school. Several letters have been written to the state government about our plight but we only see them during election period. Sometimes, we wonder if we are not part of Katsina State let alone being part of Nigeria.
"This community has over 500 residents, but we share a stream with our animals. We lack all basic amenities that should make life easier for us. Beside the school, you can see the hospital. It has been under lock and key for sometime now. The road itself is another story of journey of no return. For us, we have counted ourselves out of Katsina State because we donate all our basic amenities ourselves."
Five Decades of Neglect The community, according to residents, has been in existence for over 50 years without basic amenities. To residents of Ginzo, the quest for potable water and basic healthcare is better imagined, as they share the only source of drinking water, which is a nearby stream, with their cattles.
When THISDAY ventured into the community to investigate the claims on October 31, 2018, our correspendent was first confronted with an embarrassing sight of a decrepit road leading to the community. It is appalling that residents who ply the road daily have accepted the rough ride on bikes as their fate, as it has remained the same for years.
Plea for Government Intervention The Village Head of the community, Samaila Shehu, in an interview, pleaded for government’s intervention, particularly in the area of provision of potable water supply, healthcare, access road and provision of additional classrooms and secondary school for the community.
Shehu who said the community had suffered neglect for years noted that, "even cars that manage to ply here change their brake pads and oil almost all the time due to the bad roads. I have been living in this area for the past 50 years and the road has been the same; as a matter of fact, it is even getting worse. The government should listen to our cry and do the needful to make the place conducive for us."
Another predicament confronting the community is water, which was buttressed by Shehu. He said: "Our biggest challenge here is potable water supply. The well here dries up at will and the nearest to having water is a stream, but it is the same stream that our cattle drink from. So if we don’t go to the stream very early enough, we won’t be able to access water.
"We all know that it is not hygienic that our cattle drink from the same stream we also drink from. We have been facing this water scarcity for 20 years now. For over four years now, we have been seeding our complaints to the state government through the chairman of Jibia Local Government but nothing has been done up to this moment.
"We contributed N28,000 and gave it to the immediate past Director of Administration and Finance ( DAF) of the local government for the renovation of our local well, but he could not renovate it. Unfortunately, he has been transfered to another local government and he couldn't refund us. So we are calling on government to make way for us to have access to clean and drinkable water, because water is life.”
The traditional ruler also lamented the non- availability of secondary and Islamic schools for children in the community as the nearest secondary school is the Barrack Secondary School, which is in Katsina, and is located about 10 kilometres away. He lamented that for those in school, they are forced
to trek from the community daily to Katsina and back.
On electricity, the community leader lamented that his community has not enjoyed electricity power supply, although he admitted that some efforts were made about 10 years ago towards providing power, but was later abandoned.
No Dividends, No Voting
Shehu, who vowed not to cast his vote for any political office seeker again until the demands of the community are met, said: "Due to these problems that we are facing in this community, I and my subjects agreed to vote only candidates that would address our problems before election time.
"We have being voting since the return of democracy in Nigeria but we don't have a single dividend of democracy in this community. So, we decided to vote only candidates who will solve our problems before 2019."
Academic Structural Deficit
It was observed that the only two classrooms available in the primary school for the pupils in the community, which accommodates an average of 150 pupils have only 20 desks. The windows have no locks as its wood had been destroyed by termites leaving rainwater to splash inside the classrooms. Whenever it rains, it is easy for the pupils to jump in and out whenever there is no teacher to monitor them.
Another resident of the community, Nura Hashimu, who took our correspondent to the dilapidated primary school in the area said: “This is the only available school for our children. You can see for yourself that even animals are not supposed to be kept here, let alone children acquiring knowledge. It is pathetic that the kids of those living here have got no other place than to attend the prison tagged school by government.
“This environment is not conducive for learning because the kids can easily be exposed to dangers. Even snakes can crawl into the class without the knowledge of anyone. Most times when it rains, you see parents rushing to the school to get their wards because the classrooms will be flooded".
Hashimu further lamented that: "the fact that the school is unfenced has also exposed some of the pupils to danger. You can see we indeed need more chairs and thorough renovation in this school. Government keeps coming with promises, but are yet to fulfill any."
Comatose Health Facility
Similarly, a visit to the Primary Healthcare Centre ( PHC) in the community shows reason why the residents would rather love to take herbs to heal their illness and use midwives for child deliveries. The health centre was under lock and key, with cobwebs dotting the building, indicating that it has been under lock for a long time. Checks also revealed that there was no toilet, no tank or electricity at the facility.
Its staff according to Hashimu stopped coming to work. He said the casual staff that even manages to come to the PHC, does not come on a regular basis. "Sometimes, he is not on duty and sometimes he complains that drugs are not available. And since we have elderly people in the village, we enter the bush, look for appropriate leaves and use them as herbs.
"The only saviour we have is herbs when our children fall sick and since the hospital staff have left, births are delivered at home by midwives and sometimes old women are called in the community to help take care of that," he added.
For Hafsat Abdullahi, a mother of 14, life is unbearable for women in the community. She said: "The PHC is not functional. Women in this village depend on God and traditional birth attendants for delivery. It was traditional birth attendant that helped me with the delivery of my last child. After delivery, we give them a token as appreciation. The only time we face challenges is when things want to go out of hand".
The question still remains, will the government this time around listen to the plight of the Ginzo Community and provide them with the much needed social basic amenities? Only time can
Due to these problems that we are facing in this community, my subjects and I have agreed to vote only candidates that would address our problems before election time. We have being voting since the return of democracy in Nigeria but we don't have a single dividend of democracy in this community