Celebration amidst Destruction
After a tour of communities recently liberated from Boko Haram insurgents by the military, Margee Ensign writes on the pressing need for the government to focus efforts on making life bearable for displaced persons, who are now returning to their communit
“We are jubilating”, said one of our American University of Nigeria’s (AUN) employees. Indeed much of Nigeria, the continent, and the world were celebrating along with Nigeria after the recent successful free and fair presidential election in the country. The peaceful transition to a new administration not only ensured the stability and growth of Nigeria’s democratic system, but sets a shining example for the rest of the world and Nigerians should be very proud. But, now the hard work begins.
Many problems require immediate solutions, especially those in the northeast of the country, where Boko Haram has waged war for the past five years. After a trip to some of the northern cities on a recent week, war is the only word to describe the damage.
A few days ago, members of the American University of Nigeria’s Adamawa Peace Initiative (API), several internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the cities we would visit, and a few international journalists, drove north to inspect the damage. The State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) provided an armed escort for our journey.
Many of the IDPs want to return home and plant their crops before the rain begins. Will that be possible? We hope to have some answers for them.
The first few towns outside of Yola showed some sign of recovery. Many have returned to Gombi and markets were alive. In Hong we began to see more destruction: the primary and secondary school, the EYN Church and Living Faith Church, and many homes were burned and destroyed. The Hong Local Government secretariat and surrounding government buildings had been shelled. Despite this we saw some signs of recovery. The LCCN church was being rebuilt, as was a filling station. The hospital was intact. We were hopeful.
Leaving Hong, we encountered our first of five bridges that had been destroyed. Our phones quit working. No communication was now possible. The chatter in the car died down.
We came to the junction in Marraba. It was clear that very serious fighting had occurred here. Both churches and mosques—across the street from each other—were destroyed. Most of the public buildings had been shelled or burned. The health clinic was damaged beyond use. The EYN national headquarters and clinic were demolished. No farms were being cleared and prepared for the rainy season.
Leaving Marraba we came to a bridge that had been cut in half. Only a bomb could have done this level of damage. We carefully drove down the ravine next to the bride.
As we continued to Hilde we began seeing destroyed tanks and burned out cars on the roads. There were only a very few people walking on the road –mainly women, youth and the elderly. Here too, no land was being prepared for farming. We drove to Uba. More damage: the Para Secondary school was burned, the Government Secondary Science School was vandalised, and the police outpost was damaged beyond use. All the churches that we could see were burned. The road was pitted and driving was very slow. From Hilde north, we began to see a stronger security presence, including male and female vigilantes.
As we left Uba, a large group of vigilantes lined the road, which was closed to the public. They removed large blocs and tree limbs so we could continue our journey.
We continued to Bazza. Here we encountered another bridge that had been destroyed—the Kadzum bridge. One of our refugees was from Bazza and said we had to visit St. Mary’s Church. This was his town and he had heard about the destruction. We were unprepared for what we saw. Offices with all the records for 60 years burned in