Mokwa in Mokwa Local Government Area of Niger State is about 381 kilometers West of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. You may not be aware, but about 80 percent of what is today the FCT used to be part of Niger State. Mokwa is a stone throw away from the glitterati of modernity, yet abandoned to its faith.
Ordinarily, a place like Mokwa should benefit from the spill-over of the physical development of the FCT. But that is far from the reality. Suleja in Niger State, which is like the nose and mouth with the FCT is far from sensing that even. If you travel like some of us do, not even Gwagwalada, Abaji et al get the presence that Abuja city centre gets. Yet they are part and parcel of the FCT.
That is the fate of Mokwa, like many rural communities, those in authority concentrate their definition of development on urban centres. Yet, communities like Mokwa; agrarian with hard working dwellers, feed the nation and ordinarily should be responsible for the nation’s growth.
Mokwa is a gateway community between the North and South West. Three bridges collapsed in that flood. Many travellers were not just stranded, but perishable goods and animals got lost there.
The stories from the flood that killed over 250 humans and still counting, completely destroyed over 350 houses and rendered thousands homeless was avoidable. But we are people of “faith”, quick to blame anything and everything on nature.
Imagine a woman trying to escape, holding her two children struggling with the strong tidal wave. People had to scream to her to let go of one child to save one. She did. To save one child, she had to sacrifice another, otherwise maybe the three of them would have died. And, she would live with the consequences of that hard decision for the rest of her life.
You may have seen the video of the young boys who climbed up the roof of a Mosque as the tidal wave hit harder. For God knows how long, they hanged on. But as they prayed and hope against hope, eventually the Mosque collapsed washing them away to death.
Fifty students of an Islamiya school got washed away to death without any trace. Till date. Some families went to bed and never woke up alive. But their dead bodies, for those found, spluttered in mud and buried under rubbles are memories forever etched on surviving family members heads.
Surviving families lost virtually everything including farm produce in silos; their life saving.
Sadly and ironically, millions are being donated by politicians after the flood. Imagine if these millions of naira were donated pre-flood to clear and expand drainages, construct culverts, resettle those on water ways and ensure those at River Niger Banks were resettled up land.
Niger State Government is donating 6,000 bags of rice to the victims. These is a great farming community that were food-wise so buoyant to feed larger part of the state population. As commendable as the acts sounds, is rice their immediate need?
Yes, NIMET warned of 15 states including Niger out of the 36, being flood prone. What measures were taken to avert the Mokwa incident? Yet, these are states that get ecological funds running into billions of naira, yet used it for anything but ecological.
Mokwa is a symptom of a Sick nation. A nation that is reactionary as against being proactive. The authorities ran pillar to poll, post flood, with pretence of going to the aid of the victims. Our response and emergency speed is snail-like.
What we call rescue is actually evacuation and burying of the dead, and clearing of rubbles destroyed beyond redemption by avoidable disasters.
As you read this, survivors without homes have no designated IDP Camps to cater for their daily basic needs. Many a politician who go to the State in the name of condolences, end up stopping in Government House, at Minna the state capital without reaching Mokwa; the theatre of the absurd. For some, it is an opportunity to act politically for the cameras.
Daily, as the survivors battle to piece their lives together with many loosing everything they ever owned, even the few who support the victims are waning, leaving the people to their plight.
We are people of “faith” who blame anything and everything on nature. We are quick to forget nurture. We pray and hope, moving to the next lap. Those responsible for the people’s wellbeing play god and move to the next lap of election, thinking less of the lives they swore with holy books to protect.
Last year, over 1,200 lives were lost to flood across Nigeria with over 1.2 million displaced. Yet no measures were put in place to avert Mokwa this year. We are just in the month of June, with heavier rains still ahead of us in the year. We may be in for a worst scenario; God forbid, with no clear sign of proactive preventive measures in sight to avert recurrence.
As the dead are buried with many more still unaccounted for, with the survivors leaking their wounds with experiences and memories they would not wished for their worst enemies. Mokwa is a symptom of a sick nation with debilitating ailment and carefree medical cum caregivers holding the reign of leadership.