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My Binoculars

My Binoculars
A feature on the reflection on 2024: Bitter Lessons from the flood in greater Maiduguri which terminated over 150 lives
By: Bodunrin Kayode
The recent flood which swept almost 200 lives off the face of the earth in Maiduguri has become a landmark of destruction which no resident in his right senses would wish for a reoccurrence. The Borno state capital Maiduguri is the home of extreme temperatures but surely that flood was not meant to cool down the city. It was a raging flow of Alau dam water which locked and killed many in their homes because it came at a very odd hour of the night when residents were asleep. Imagine waking up in your sleep by a surge of cold water touching the edge of your bed. Peeping through the window to see that both your locked doors and windows have been inundated by water waiting to take you out of this world. That was what happened to a fifteen year old boy name withheld and myriad of other vulnerable residents of greater Maiduguri.
Indeed many State capitals in the country have witnessed such deluges but not all due to unnatural factors as was in the case of the collapse of the Alau Dam which has become an albatross on the shoulders of Governor Babagana Zulum the Chief security officer of the state. I actually sympathized with Prof Zulum within my inner man when this damnation befell the city centre of Maiduguri. This is
because the man’s battle with the bloody 15 year old insurgency is far from over. And then came this tragedy with the flood raging into the low level areas of the city centre living sorry, tears and sudden death for those who could not swim out of their homes by that wee hour of the night of September 10th 2024. Most residents in parts of Konduga, Fori, Gwange, customs market and fly over, bayan quarters, Moro Moro, Aabaganaran, Shehu’s Palace area, Post office and Monday market, the State specialist hospital, zoo area, state secretariat, 505 Housing estate and many wards too numerous to explain were surrounded and killed while crying for distant help which never came. The flood suffocated the life out of some residents who took solace on their roof tops yet became submerged with their roofs caving after hours of waiting for help. Everyone was terrified about the speed which which the flood took over habitations of residents who could not escape. Those who took chances to swim could not behold the beauty of the first light of the following day. Even those who could swim lost control because the entire submerged city centre became an appendage of Lake Chad with roof tops doting about like the Tumbus islands over 300km away before that fateful 10th September 2024.
Bitter lessons and questions coming out of the raging flood water
Gentlemen, partners, there are so many lessons to learn from the recent flood which burst the sims of Alau dam and enveloped the city centre of Maiduguri. The obvious carelessness displayed by federal water engineers responsible to keep the Alau Dam stable and their inability to acknowledge that it would soon burst out of its sims was a major lesson to learn not to allow to be repeated. That the city of Maiduguri has been inundated by water once in which about 37 souls perished was also supposed to have been on the minds of the engineers as a lesson to have stuck into their brains. The very fact that the city had been laid waste before by similar angry floods was equally supposed to have propelled the resident engineers to have dived in to save the dam before the beginning of the rains but they failed. Rather they lied to the secretary to the state government Tijani Bukar who visited to ascertain the stability of the Dam and caused the government to drop its guard that all was well. That was the mother of all lessons which must never be forgotten.
The federal owners of the Dam knew that there was a threat underneath but instead of acting accordingly they left it to the mercy of the heavy rains to plunder the city of Maiduguri from almost 25 km away sending over 150 souls to the great beyond. That wicked flood incident of 2024 can never be forgotten by those who lost loved ones and properties which was dear to their existence in this world. The questions to ask ourselves after the devastation are many and it should bother both the federal managers and the state government. As a matter of fact, so many questions have been left unanswered after that damnation of 2024.
Primary among them was, did the Dam managers learn any big lesson from the 2024 flood? Were they negligent in allowing the Dam to burst its sims? Was it possible to save the Dam before its collapse? Who were the federal staff on ground that should have saved the situation? Was there any state staff involved in this dangerous dereliction of duty? Would there be repercussions for this mass murder of people due to the carelessness of some professionals? Is there any guarantee that maiduguri will not be flooded again from this same Dam? Can the residents be given an alternative source of drinking water other than what comes from Alau Dam? So many questions to bother the government and partners. And the whole world is waiting to see how many heads will roll while trying to answer these burning questions.
It is sad to note because the city of Maiduguri had been flooded in 1994 when heavy rains caused the banks of the Dam to burst emptying it’s contents into the same Maiduguri. 400,000 people were displaced then but over a million residents were displaced this time around. Many people climbed up trees to escape then but trust me there were no trees to climb this time because it caught them in their homes at the wee hours of the night. A few who sat on their strong roof tops were seen by military boats released by the 7div of the Nigerian army which had arrived by first light looking for who to save quickly.
The entire city centre including the Maiduguri specialist hospital was submerged under water. Driving in from baga road, I had to stop afyer the construction of the western area fly over of the town because the post office looked like a sea of some sorts. This was because everything below two metres were submerged leaving only rooftops for people to see. And sadly because Maiduguri is founded along the Ngadda river which usually disappears along the Firki swamps surrounding lake Chad, it took several days for the water to go down and for residents to return to their residences. The bursting of the man made Alau dam had destabilized the natural order of the surrounding swamps so everyone had to be on stand still till the extra water receded into the lake Chad sources for residential sanity to prevail. The Muna garage axis housing 505 housing estate was the last to receded making return to the place very difficult. The flooding brought in myriads of confusion as most agencies of government couldn’t realize the reality of the challenge associated with the flood until SEMA started dropping the mortality figures. Some even competed among themselves like petty human beings who introduce competition into every thing they do. Imagine one week after the health emergency sector started briefing reporters, that was when the information ministry started work at the complex of the ministry of RRR. It was wrongly called a situational room with just one commissioner present. All other stake holders were clearly absent.
Painful as it was, it took almost a week for the organized health sector to be reorientated from emergencies from insurgency and be activated into flood actions by the Commissioner of health Prof.. Baba Mallam Gana. Well for a health sector that was battling with monkey pox, diphtheria and several other challenges unearthed daily from the surveillance pillar, flood was the least challenge expected on their mind. There were much more important challenges which had to be fixed as quickly as possible. Nobody thought the challenges of the flood would advance to such a massive level as to cause so much damage as it did.
Mistakes made before the declaration of Cholera
While Professor Usman Tar was briefing newsmen intermittently at the RRR complex, the health commissioner was doing his at the emergency centre on damboa road with a much larger crowd of stake holders and collaborators in the business of saving lives. That itself was confusion because the newsmen interested in the details behind the news were confused. Expectedly, many mistakes were made managing the very flood by ministries, departments and parastatals which were supposed to work as a team. The information management of such disasters are done as team. Not the way it was done with the ministry of information holding a separate news conference and the health counterpart doing theirs separately. In organized climes, this kind of disasters are usually handled as a team. What was expected was that the health ministry should have worked with SEMA, ministry of health and any other ministry which had some clearance to make in a situation room which would disseminate the right kind of information to residents and the outside world.
When cholera was declared the Commissioners of health, information and State emergency management Agency (SEMA) should have been on the same table briefing news men while statistics of the mortality rates which was toyed with as if it doesn’t matter would have received maximum attention. There was nothing shameful about giving the exact number of people that died in the disaster because nobody expected less from a flood of that magnitude.
Again for emphasis, news conferences are not meant for everyone to attend. Journalists are never civil servants and do not understand how too play the eye service game like the bureaucratic class of people whose primary goals are to please their excellencies. We work for the common man who only we owe our allegiances to and not to the big men in authority. As a result, the next time the Commissioner is declaring another Cholera disaster as he did during the flood the hall should be populated by only the reporters invited and the commissioner and his permanent secretary. Health sector partners should not be taken out of their tight schedules to witness news conferences. It’s not their business to speak for government in such cases. It’s either the commissioner, his permanent secretary or incident manager and one or two other vital director who will assist the Professor with further details during the conference. What happened last year by the time Commissioner of health was briefing without the key partner for emergencies which is SEMA was a big wrong that should not be repeated in future briefings.
Again, you do not invite journalists to news conferences and expect them to stand. That is another big wrong that must bee avoided. Even photo journalists should be given the pleasure of sitting down before the real conference starts. Most of the journalists invited including top officers of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) were standing while unnecessary intruders were troubled out of their tight schedules to fill the spaces meant for journalists to sit down and do their jobs. If someone thinks what goes on in the government house is the ideal, then they are mistaken. That is not our standard at the NUJ nationwide. We just allow it sometimes because of the emergencies surrounding the city of Maiduguri. The next time another emergency wrecks havoc in the city of maiduguri or within the BAY states respectively, we expect to see the Commissioners of health, information, SEMA and any other important stake holder on the same page with facts and figure briefing newsmen under the same roof. You do not impress reporters with the entire crowd of sector members please. Just get the key stake holders and possibly pillar heads where necessary and we would be good to go. Finally never make the mistake of incorporating a news conference inside another program. It is not right and completely against the reason for calling a news conference which is aimed at generating news for the betterment of the people of the state.
Evaluation of the management of the flood by stakeholders
But by the time the flood arrived the city, the government people in the sector realized literally that there was too much fire on the mountain. Consequently, partners had to do something about saving the lives of the residents in the state capital before worrying about the opportunistic diseases like Cholera which actually come out of such situations from experience. Come to think of it all manner of diseases were sucked by the flood which went as far as desecrating the Gwange cemetery digging out corpses that were already buried in shallow graves and spreading same its trail.
However, on a whole, all hands were on deck to save the residents who were still alive. The military saw the extent of the damage and had to step in with boats to certain hard to reach areas to bring out survivors. Those who did not give up because of old age like octogenarians and sat down with rosary in hand meditating and waiting for the water to kill them in a titanic style. Many were rescued and many are still heart broken over the devastation after the water receded.
Finally, the flood left quite a trail of sorrow tears and blood along its routes as over 150 known souls perished as reported by SEMA. The unknown which includes almajiris who could not swim are not part of this statistics. Those who were pronounced dead by the health sector are not included. Those eaten up by wild animals from the zoo are also not part of this because they turned into faeces splashed in the water.
Those who died from shock in their hospital beds are also not included in this. The University of Maiduguri teaching Hospital (UMTH) and state specialist hospital communities will never forget the litany of woes that flood of September 2024 created for them.
My binocular cannot print out all the dark images I saw with my own eyes here but my prayer is that may this affliction never re occur in the land of Yerwa again.
My Binoculars
Feature
Harmonizing Retirement Age in Nigeria: A Call for Consistency

Harmonizing Retirement Age in Nigeria: A Call for Consistency
By Raphael Oni
The retirement age in Nigeria has sparked intense debate, with various government agencies and institutions operating under different retirement ages. This inconsistency raises concerns about fairness, equity, and the need for a unified approach. Recently, the organized labour sector, including the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), has emphasized the need for a consistent policy across all government agencies and institutions.
The Current State of Retirement Age in Nigeria
Different government agencies and institutions in Nigeria have varying retirement ages, including:
- National Assembly Service Commission: 65 years
- Judicial arm of government: 65 years for judges
- Foreign Service: 60 years for officers
- Nigeria Police Force: 60 years for personnel
- National Pension Commission (PenCom): 50 years, extendable to 60 years with approval
This disparity raises questions about fairness and equity. Why should employees in different agencies have different retirement ages? A uniform policy would ensure equal treatment and dignity for all employees.
Benefits of Harmonization
Harmonizing retirement age in Nigeria would bring several benefits, including:
- Consistency and fairness: A uniform retirement age would ensure equal treatment for all employees.
- Simplified administration: A single retirement age would simplify administrative processes and reduce confusion.
- Improved planning: A consistent retirement age would enable employees to plan their careers and retirement more effectively.
- Enhanced morale: A fair and equitable retirement policy would boost employee morale and productivity.
International Best Practices
Many countries have a uniform retirement age for public servants, such as:
- United States: 65 years (with option to retire earlier with reduced benefits)
- United Kingdom: 65-68 years (depending on the scheme)
- Canada: 65 years (with option to retire earlier with reduced benefits)
- Australia: 65 years (with plans to increase to 70 years)
- Morocco: 60 years (with discussions to raise to 65)
- South Africa: 65 years (new reform)
Proposed Harmonized Retirement Age for Nigeria
Based on international best practices and Nigeria’s economic and demographic context, a harmonized retirement age of 60-65 years could be considered. This would allow employees to retire with dignity and adequate pension benefits while ensuring sustainable pension obligations.
Agency-by-Agency Analysis
- Foreign Affairs: Harmonizing retirement age would ensure equal treatment for Foreign Service officers.
- National Assembly Service Commission: Harmonization would ensure consistency across all government institutions.
- Judicial: Given the importance of judicial experience, the retirement age may be justified, but harmonization would ensure equal treatment.
Challenges and Considerations
Implementing a harmonized retirement age policy would require careful consideration of:
- Pension sustainability: Ensuring sustainable and adequately funded pension obligations.
- Employee morale: Balancing the needs of employees affected by changes to their retirement age.
- Economic context: Considering the economic implications of a harmonized retirement age policy.
Conclusion
Harmonizing retirement age in Nigeria is a necessary step towards ensuring fairness, equity, and consistency across all government agencies and institutions. A uniform retirement age policy would promote simplicity, improve planning, and enhance employee morale. The government should consider adopting a consistent policy that applies to all, taking into account international best practices and Nigeria’s economic and demographic context.
Raphael Oni a seasoned journalist, Editor-in-chief of Diplomatic Extra, a Specialized Magazine
Harmonizing Retirement Age in Nigeria: A Call for Consistency
Feature
WHITHER BORNO SOUTH STAKEHOLDERS: A REJOINDER

WHITHER BORNO SOUTH STAKEHOLDERS: A REJOINDER
BY: Yamta Bulama Bata Mshelia.
Amidst the very wide acclaim, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum has been getting for his leadership style; a news item captioned ” Borno South Residents Urge Action Against Discriminatory Politics “, authored by one Ishaya Malgwi, writting on behalf of a self styled group; BORNO SOUTH STAKEHOLDERS, caught my attention in the social media.
In the said piece Ishaya Malgwi, the convener of Borno South Stakeholders: an amorphous socio-political group comprising mainly Southern Borno elites in diaspora, tried painting the people of Southern Borno as ungrateful for the present government in Borno state under Professor Babagana Umara Zulum.
I had earlier read another write-up by Alhaji Yusuf Adamu, expressing appreciation to the governor for the numerous projects executed in Southern Borno: Biu in particular.
With Alhaji Yusuf Adanu’s piece, one would have been happy that contrary to Ishaya Malgwi’s postulations, the governor has done something worthwhile in the southern part and one can afford to ignore the Borno South Stakeholders under Ishaya Malgwi, but for the fact that as a stakeholder by all ramifications, and I am from Southern Borno residing in Biu, I could not resist the urge to correct the the erroneous impression being created by the so-called Borno South Stakeholders.
As a witness to some of the projects executed across Southern Borno which run contrary to the claims by the self styled group called Southern Borno Stakeholders, I have always had my suspicion about this group, which registered as agents of unity and development, but which has metamorphosis into an opposition: that does not see anything good in the government of Borno state.
I have interacted with so many people who were unsuspecting lured to join the group, most of whom opted out after realizing that it was more of a selfish self serving assemblage much more than a collection of development strategists.
I have also keenly followed their programmes and shall expose their real motives in the fullness of time.
I hasten to state that no governor, in the recent history of Borno state, has done what governor Zulum has done or is doing in Southern Borno in terms of development.
I stand to be corrected, but I am also aware that Southern Borno has its fair share of representation in the government, and I know that so many projects have been completed and are ongoing in Southern Borno.
I have made contact with like minds, and we are compiling the list of projects executed in each local government area in Southern Borno.
I am sure that, except perhaps those working in Ishaya Malgwi’s conclave, most Southern Borno stakeholders may not agree that we are mere onlookers on the political scene either.
It is needless to clarify that in Zulums government, the chairman of the ruling party is from Southern Borno: and one will wonder what political relevance Malgwi is talking about.
To my limited knowledge, I know that the Deputy Governor is from Southern Borno, the Deputy Speaker of the state Assemnly is from Southern Borno, the Deputy Chief of Staff is from Southern Borno, there is a Commissioner from each Local Government, except Gwoza and Chibok which had problems, there is a sizeable number of Advisers, SSAs, SAs and Technical Advisers from each Local Government and untill recently the Head of Service is from Southern Borno and many others.
I know, as a matter of fact, that many Southern Borno State indigenes have gained appointments through the instrumentality of the Borno State Governor.
We may concede it to Borno South Stakeholders as a right to express their opinions and orchestrate their sentiments because we are approaching another political phase, and the polity is already heating up.
But it is completely inaccurate to state that Professor Babagana Umara Zulum is running a government of exclusion to the detriment of Southern Borno.
We should learn to appreciate that which is good even when it does not favour us, just as we are previledged to also criticize.
Mshelia is an indigenes of Hawul Local Government.
WHITHER BORNO SOUTH STAKEHOLDERS: A REJOINDER
Feature
The Changing Trajectory Of Governor Zulum’s Development Initiatives In Southern Borno

The Changing Trajectory Of Governor Zulum’s Development Initiatives In Southern Borno
By: A. G. Abubakar
The last outing by HE Professor Babagana Umara Zulum to Biu in Southern Borno, where multiple capital projects were either commissioned or initiated, signified a strategic shift towards inclusion and fair play. It was a masterstroke that had the potential to engender unity and balanced development in the region. This is aside improving the deteriorating political and ethno-religious relations and the concomitant mass discontent in the affected zone(s). Kudos to His Excellency!
The citizens’ hunger for development should be seen as a legitimate aspiration. And, meeting such expectations (reasonably) should naturally be the guiding principles of governance that successive administrations in the state seemed to have jettisoned. A development that has since created a feeling of distrust between the government and the governed in the zone. The people believe, and rightly too, that they have no other polity to call their own apart from Borno State and, as such, deserve to be treated fairly in its affairs.
Professor Zulum may be a “new convert” to this noble philosophy but he seems to have his hands on the right handles going by the strategic nature of the dividends of democracy (infrastructure) his government is extending across parts of the Borno South. And, the Professor-Governor seems to be doing this, not only with the needed expediency but in style too.
The governor inaugurated (commissioned) “a state-of-the-art eye and dental hospital as well as a mega secondary school in Miringa-Biu, Biu LGA” of the state. The eye hospital is a 40-bed ophthalmological care centre. “Similarly, the dental hospital will provide comprehensive oral health services including preventive care, orthodontics, and restorative treatments.” The Mega school in Miringa has the capacity to accommodate 1,300 students students. The school consists of 60 classrooms, 4 laboratories, and an ICT centre.
Apart from the executed projects in Biu, His Excellency ordered the construction of 5 new hospitals in the state, with two coming to Askira and Uba towns in Southern Borno. The others are Gubio, Mafa, and Dikwa. To boost MSMEs in the zone, the governor launched a billion naira (N1 billion) support fund for the initiative. Governor Zulum equally laid the foundation for the construction of 600 housing units across Biu, Hawul (Borno South),Gubio, and Magumeri, with a view to addressing the housing deficits in these communities.
Not long ago, the governor was at the forefront at saving the Nigeria Army University (NAUB), Biu. His administration equally facilitated the take-off of the Federation College of Education, Gwoza, as well as that of the Federal Orthopaedic Centre in Azare, Hawul LGA.
It is common knowledge that governance is about the management of aggregate interests. Interests that may, at times, be even conflicting. It is also about inclusion and equity.
For long, the powers that be in Borno have been perceived as lacking in terms of the sense of proportion, especially in the distribution of capital infrastructure across the state’s constituent parts. For nearly two decades, capital projects have been domiciled in Maiduguri, the seat of government.
Mega schools, tertiary institutions, hospitals, urban renewable schemes (overhead bridges, mass transit systems, etc), support to MSMEs, have all been concentrated in Maiduguri.Thus, turning the polity into a one city-state that left the northern and southern Borno enclaves out. The former is due to the Boko Haram/ISWAP insurgency campaigns in the region, while the latter may not be unconnected with Nigeria’s zero-sum geopolitics underpinned by the tyranny of number.
The state of things, however, seems to be changing for the good of all. Governance is becoming more responsive by exhibiting some modicum of fairness in state craftsmanship.The people need to reciprocate the positive gesture. Trust is crucial in governance, though it has to be earned. The recent action by the government also needs to be sustained in order to maintain public trust.
Like Oliver Twist, the central character in Charles Dickens’ seminal work (1838) of the same title, the people are yearning for more. They wish to remind the Borno State government that the Biu Dam is still uncompleted after almost 40 years! The Damboa to Biu highway, as well as the Damaturu-Biu- Garkida road, need the government’s intervention, too. The poor state of the roads have rendered large chunks of the state a safe haven for Boko Haram/ISWAP. Mobility is a critical factor in prosecuting wars and in securing public support as well.
Apart from the major highways, the Borno State government initiated a rural road development programme to boost economic activities, especially agriculture and commerce. Gunda communities in Biu LGAs and some others in Chibok, Askira/Uba, etc, were identified, and work commenced. Two years down the line, nothing has been done, leaving the affected communities frustrated as they see their hopes gradually getting dashed. For some inexplicable reasons, the Miringa-Garubula-Gunda, feeder road with a possible extension to the border towns of Galabinda and Tattaba, basically remains abandoned.
The State College of Agriculture, Damboa, is still being housed in Maiduguri, the state capital. Attempts should be made to move it to its permanent site after almost three decades. Not forgetting the need to facilitate the return of thousands of Borno citizens pushed into refugee camps in neighbouring Cameroon and Niger.The government’s credibility is at stake with regard to these issues.
The people of Borno South salute the governor, His Excellency, Professor Zulum, for the commendable paradigm shift. May it be a sustainable one.
A.G.Abubakar agbarewa@gmail.com
The Changing Trajectory Of Governor Zulum’s Development Initiatives In Southern Borno
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