Sokoto community: Before another flood nightmare
Fifty three year-old Malam Lawali wavers and is downcast for a moment as haunting memories of recurring floods glide through his mind. Year after year, inhabitants of Mabera Iddi in Sokoto South Local Government Area are forced to endure wet seasons filled with adversity as water inundates the area.
Many residents say they have to forgo sleep, keep their children off school, contend with increased health challenges and disrupted economic activities.
Traders lamented they incurred several losses because of the difficulties of movement during the period.
It is apparent from plaintive expressions of Mabera residents that they are quite despondent about the flood menace.
The densely populated locality of about 1.5 million inhabitants is also boycotted by commercial transporters during the period thereby leaving inhabitants to trek long distances to get essential commodities.
Lawali, a trader, has been a resident of Mabera for 22 years. He said, “I will never forget when water flooded my entire house; destroying vital documents, as well as sacks of varieties of grains I had in stock. I just woke up in the middle of the night to realise we were in water.
“This flood has caused my family a lot of problems considering that a pool of water is always by my doorstep at such times. When flood occurs, and mass water blocks the entire surrounding, my little children are kept indoors to save them from drowning,” he complained.
He said the floods usually had adverse effect on his firewood business.
“During rainy season, I can’t sell,” he groused.
For 35 year-old mother of three, Malama Zainab, the situation is particularly challenging in emergency and desperate situations.
“No matter how much we try, we find it very difficult to get transport because motorcycles, tricycles and cabs don’t ply the area during the rainy season. They keep away from the area no matter the amount of money promised them,” she said.
She also notes: “Flood knows no slumber, so we keep vigil; we have to stay alert at nights as it comes at any time. We have sleepless nights removing water from our apartments.”
Fourty year-old Hajara Abubakar will not speak much on the issue. With a cold expression on her face, she simply says: “In the 16 years I have spent in this area, we suffered a great deal from the menace of flood after every rain.”
Shop owner, Alhaji Mustapha Bello, who has spent two decades in the area, said recurring flood menace had been causing Mabera residents untold hardship every rainy season.
“My business suffers low patronage. The moment there is flood, movement is hampered; the business is seriously affected and with bulk of water that flood virtually everywhere, most shops, owners don’t open for sale.”
Madam Okafor has been living in Mabera for about eight years. She emphasised that the flood problem was the key problem bedevilling them: “Just because of the rain, many people have left this area, it is our prayer that the government would come to our rescue.”
Madam Okafor recalled a flood event two years ago when a lorry that conveys firewood to the area got stuck in front of her house and caused terrible obstruction for more than four days.
Her concern echoes a general plight: “I have a car, but I can’t use it during rainy season, we can’t go out when we want, and it impinges on our socio-economic activities.”
Some residents attested they had to spend out of their lean resources to purchase tipper loads of gravel to build embankments to reduce the effect of the flood on their houses.
To lessen the problem, residents have also made holes at strategic points, but