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Human rights Commission calls for transparency within the 35 member Borno flood disaster relief committee
Human rights Commission calls for transparency within the 35 member Borno flood disaster relief committee
By: Bodunrin Kayode
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has called on the “Borno State Flood Disaster Relief Disbursement Committee,” which is responsible for managing relief funds to streamline the process of compensation for residents so that each ward will know when they will be coming to their aid financially or materially.
The streamlining process being demanded will enable the 35 man committee to capture the entire residents affected and ensuring that justice is done to the myriads of people shouting to be included in the process which is looking almost like a selective jamboree weeks after it started.
The call was made by Hillary Ogbona senior Adviser (SA)to the executive secretary of the NHRC during a town hall meeting on the state of human rights during and after the maiduguri flood which took over the homes of over 200,000 residents within the state capital.
Hillary Ogbona stated recently that there was need for a timeline for the community to work with even as residents wait patiently for the Gujibawu led committee members to tend to their immediate needs.
Ogbona called on the numerous non governmental organizations (NGO’s) in the state to do more by engaging the committee to ensure all is well with the teeming residents waiting for their rightful compensations.
He regretted that it was sad that even the health sector and the information machinery in the state could not work together to fish out information from a common front instead of the piece meal approach employed in which residents were actually confused in certain instances of what to do to stay alive.
He regretted that many residents could not be reached in time for rescue because of the fact that they did not know who to call for help at such a desperately difficult period of their existence.
” I believe that the non governmental agencies would have done far better if they had engaged with the committee whose business it was to stabilize the people in the state capital.
” The values and approach to disaster management should be streamlined for effectiveness. This is because flood is not a respecter of people, creed, ranks or races. It is a leveler of all the people regardless of status.
“This is why is is important for the right thing to be done as at when due. People who earn daily wages are the most affected in such circumstances. Human rights inaction during flooding is key.”said Ogbona.
The SA stressed that there was need for the government to build a permanent and standardized camp for internally displaced people (IDP’s) with all the facilities so that all the principles of human rights based approach to disaster management will be employed without biases to anyone.
Ogbona emphasized that the usual discrimination based on status which is a common phenomenon in such circumstances in which some people are given compensation while others are not given was not permissible.
“It’s unfortunate that lots of discrimination was employed during the difficult period in which the flood was being managed but I feel this should not happen again because children should not be discriminated against at any time because major priority must be given to both women and children at such desperate circumstances.
“I had an experience in Germany which I wish to share with you people. While I was there, I observed that the selection of brains are placed above everyone during disasters, then the elderly and others may be considered later. This can equally be applied here whenever there is a similar disaster.” Said Ogbona.
Lessons from Community based human intervention in Borno were highlighted by barrister Okoro who insisted that leaders of religious groups have a very critical role to play in such trying times.
He posited that community and religious groups can be much more effective in handling such disasters if carried along when it occurred.
Okoro stressed that communication skills and the too much emphasis on the English language while encoding and decoding could also become a major challenge to the flood management approach.
Head of the Borno office Barrister Jumai Meshelia while welcoming stakeholders to the town hall meeting, called for the application of empathy while managing the people who have been traumatized by the flood.
She presented a summary on the state of human rights issues in Borno state from 2009 till date.
Stake holders present in the meeting highlighted the fact that some landlords have been coming to claim damages for the houses destroyed instead of first worrying about the fate of tenants who lost everything including lives to the flood.
One of them told stakeholders that his ten year old boy who was at home on that fateful night of Sept 10th lost his life in a fate of panic when on seeing the water pouring into the house, tried to get out but was swallowed by the raging flood from the dam.
On landlords who go to snap their homes while tenants are inside to claim damages and present same to the committees or coming to share humanitarian awards or compensations given to tenants, he called for a change of mindset by such shylock landlords.
Over 150 souls were reported as dead by the Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).
Zulum approves additional 4 weeks for disbursement Committee
Meanwhile, Governor Babagana Zulum has approved a four-week extension for the “Borno State Flood Disaster Relief Disbursement Committee,” which is responsible for managing relief funds for affected residents.
The Secretary to the State Government, (SSG) Mallam Bukar Tijani, conveyed the approval on recently in Maiduguri to stakeholders when it became obvious the duration given to the committee was inadequate.
The SSG noted that Governor Zulum has approved the extension of their work to allow for a thorough assessment of the victims to ensure all those affected were reached.
Alhaji Bukar Tijani added that the state government had received an interim report from the disbursement committee, which achieved a substantial part of their terms of reference.
Many wards are yet to be reached by the committee which has not been able to touch over 50 percent of the areas affected because there has not been any programmed time tables
Human rights Commission calls for transparency within the 35 member Borno flood disaster relief committee
Troops rescue kidnapped farmer as ISWAP terrorists flee with bullet wounds in Borno
By: Zagazola Makama
Troops of Operation Hadin Kai have rescued a farmer who was abducted by suspected Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists in New Abaram village, Bama Local Government Area of Borno State.
Zagazola Makama learnt that the incident occurred on Sunday when three terrorists, disguised as hunters with dogs, infiltrated farmlands in the community and kidnapped the victim.
The sources said that the Joint Task Force (North East), Operation Hadin Kai, responded swiftly after farm escorts in the area alerted troops.
“On sighting our troops, the terrorists opened fire on the victim and fled the scene with gunshot wounds,” the source said.
The victim sustained gunshot injuries to the mouth and hand and was immediately evacuated to General Hospital, Bama, where he is receiving medical treatment.
The source added that the general security situation in the area remained calm.
Troops rescue kidnapped farmer as ISWAP terrorists flee with bullet wounds in Borno
Exclusive photo obtain by Zagazola confirms arrest Boko Haram founder’s son, others in Chad
By: Zagazola Makama
Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency expert has obtained exclusive photos confirming the arrest of the 18-year-old son of late Boko Haram founder, Muslim Mohammed Yusuf, in Chad.
The suspect, was reportedly captured alongside five other jihadists during a security operation by Chadian forces. Sources said he was leading a six-man cell linked to the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a splinter faction of Boko Haram.
Photos seen by Zagazola show a young, short and slender man in a blue tracksuit, bearing a striking resemblance to the late Boko Haram leader, standing among far older suspects.
Intelligence sources told Zagazola that Abdrahman is the younger brother of ISWAP leader, Habib Yusuf, also known as Abu Mus’ab Al-Barnawi.
Security sources in Chad confirmed the arrest of six suspected members of Boko Haram/ISWAP but declined to provide further details on their identities.
Mohammed Yusuf, founder of Boko Haram, was captured by the Nigerian military and later executed in police custody in Maiduguri on July 30, 2009.
The younger Yusuf, believed to have been born in Nigeria before the group’s insurgency escalated in 2009, is said to have been groomed into militancy and recently emerged as a field commander within ISWAP’s Lake Chad network.
“He and his team were arrested by Chadian security. They are six in number. He was the head of the cell.”
The arrest is being seen as a major breakthrough in ongoing regional efforts to dismantle jihadist networks operating across the Lake Chad Basin.
Exclusive photo obtain by Zagazola confirms arrest Boko Haram founder’s son, others in Chad
Prof. Ahidjo urges colleagues to stem the tide of medical tourism affecting the country
By: Bodunrin Kayode
Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) Professor Ahmed Ahidjo has called on colleagues in the medical sector to step up their level of excellence to stem the tide of medical tourism affecting the country.
Ahidjo who was the guest speaker during a recent dinner in honour of the former CMD of the Federal Neuro Psychiatrist Hospital (FNPH) Maiduguri, Professor Ibrahim Wakawa argued that it is only the excellence Nigerian physicians are known abroad for that can decrease the crave for residents to resist medical tourism which is on the rise in the country.
He noted that when excellence is stamped in all facets of the medical sector,the needed growth will be achieved and a lot of people who are not satisfied with the sector will begin to have a rethink and do their treatments in Nigeria.
Ahidjo commended Professor Wakawa for a job well done adding that “he has really done well by transforming the hospital from where he met it to where it is right now.”
“Professor Wakawa is a former member of the executive of the ‘Committee of CMDS’ who believed so much in professionalism while he was there so I am not surprised that he rose to such a high height in his career ” Said Ahidjo.
The CMD called on colleagues to do their best at all times so that only the best could be mirrored out as their personal optics when people begin to look for the good or bad outputs of professionals at times like these adding that it is however not always necessary to look out for the bad side of people when striving for excellence.
Ahidjo equally commended the CMDs for daring to come to Maiduguri in spite of all the fears and myths associated with the state due to the lingering insurgency war that is affecting social life.
UMTH he maintained is privileged to have them in town for the 110th session they came for adding that he is grateful for having them in Maiduguri at a time like this.
Reeling out the achievements of the CMD, he said that Wakawa has face-lifted the entire hospital from how he met it to a very special place devoid of the usual inhibitions associated with mental hospitals.
” He not only stopped at infrastructure, he has been able to produce more than ten consultants and four Phd nurses during his tenure as CMD. About two other psychologists are doing their PhD’s as at the time he is completing his tenure”.
Also pouring encomium on Wakawa, the Secretary to the State government, Alhaji Bukar Tijani commended Wakawa for his achievements in the FNPH.
He assured the committee that the state is relatively peaceful for now adding that whatever hospitality that has been meted out to them during the visit is the typical “Borno hospitality” which is the true hallmark of the residents of the state.
Responding, the former CMD FNPH Professor Wakawa thanked colleagues for lining up to celebrate the end of his tenure at the dinner held at the new Bola Tinubu IT complex in the UMTH.
He gave credence to Professor Ahmed Ahidjo for guiding him throughout the nine years he spent as CMD rectifying many issues at the FNPH in Maiduguri.
He however warned that rectifiers like him are most times seen as committing wrongs against the status quo adding that there are so many challenges in the medical sector which needs fixing if one has the determination and guts to fix it.
” Its regrettable however that that is the way the system works. They are always waiting to resist the standard practice which we all know thereby distorting the difference between wrong and right as we all know it to be.
Professor Ibrahim Wakawa a consultant psychiatrist and lecturer at the University of Maiduguri was the Chief Medical Director of the FNPH in Maiduguri before completing his two terms tenure as CMD recently. He is a consultant psychiatrist and a lecturer in Psychiatry at the University of Maiduguri, with research interests in HIV psychiatry, psychopharmacology, and epilepsy.
Prof. Ahidjo urges colleagues to stem the tide of medical tourism affecting the country
Troops rescue kidnapped farmer as ISWAP terrorists flee with bullet wounds in Borno
Exclusive photo obtain by Zagazola confirms arrest Boko Haram founder’s son, others in Chad
Prof. Ahidjo urges colleagues to stem the tide of medical tourism affecting the country
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