Post flood audit: 29 Churches covered by Alau Dam collapse flooding

By: Bodunrin Kayode

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) chair and auxiliary Catholic Bishop of Maiduguri Dr John Bakeni has said that 29 Churches were affected in the September flood of last year which devastated a large chunk of the state capital.

The devastating flood which was orchestrated by a night burst in the Sims of the Alau Dam which supplies drinking water into greater maiduguri submerged the entire municipal, jere and some sections of Mafa council areas of the Borno State capital.

The chair of CAN told this reporter in an interview that the flood was so devastating that it affected hundreds of residents such that friends and relatives had to take in their people who were rendered homeless from the tragedy.

” For us in the Catholic Church, St Timothy, which would have been a safe haven for affected people was completely taken over by the flood so we had no choice but to shift the people to the Bishop’s house.” Said Dr Bakeni.

The Bishop said that the Church had to assist over 400 people who were badly affected at the peak of the flood crisis adding that “We had to establish feeding bases in some areas like the farm centre with support of the Governor Professor Babagana Zulum and food was supplied to them.”

To the Bishop, who was a member of the September 2024 flood committee set up by Zulum to rehabilitate the people, the Church was planted and permitted by God to exist as such the Lord will lift the people up to where they should get to whenever there is a calamity of this magnitude.

During the chat held in his office at St Timothy Church, the CAN boss said that nobody actually saw the level of catastrophe coming from the flood because more than half of the town was submerged and unfortunately it came at night when nobody expected it.

“For us, st Patrick, st John, St Michaels,
Maduganari police chaplaincy, St Augustine, where many people took solace to hide away from the flood were all affected.

“The Christian committee should give thanks to God for all that happened because so many people were affected, 29 churches as a whole including Catholic churches.

“A crocodile was here, snakes were left loose and a lot of damage was done to the compound forcing the priests here to take refuge in the bishop’s house.” Said Bakeni.

Reacting to complaints from his members, the CAN chair noted that the committee did its best to ensure that the relief funds went round but that the doors are still open for special cases to be made for people who are dissatisfied with what went on in the management of the compensatory funds for residents who suffered economic and material losses.

On the myriads of complaints sent to the Gujibawu led flood committee, the CAN boss went on: “we operated based on the funds available. I tell you even if we had N30 billion to share, the funds would not have gone round as some residents expected.

“Those in the market places were given compensations too. The issue was a big deal so we gave based on the available funds. The highest we could give was one million and this was in extreme cases.

“There were many tough issues of owner versus tenants to deal with but we had to look into it and agree on a formula to ease the tensions. But it was obvious we could not please everyone.

“Remember that there was poverty and hunger before the flood which worsened the economic status of individuals.
As for those in the uniformed services, there was a general template for every one so they were taken care of.

“Bogis went in to capture everyone regardless of social status religion etc. This was the mandate given to the committee and I think they carried it diligently. It was one of the most transparent exercise we went through in the entire task.

” Most of those who made pledges responded. It was a genuine human need for the assistance of our common humanity. So you cannot afford but to make a genuine human need and not fulfill it. I tell you, the best spirit of Nigerians was at play and it tells you what we can do as humans. This helped to bring out the resilience in us.

Speaking on lessons learnt from the flood and how residents retuned back to their feet in spite of the loss of materials and even loved ones in some cases, the CAN boss posited that “it tells you that nothing is permanent in this life but a lot of things are ephemeral. It also tells us that the forces of nature which are air, wind and water are very powerful and can’t be taken for granted.

“Another lesson here is that when it comes to maintaining our infrastructures, we must not compromise, especially when it comes to things like Dams.

” Fourthly, we have to learn to live simply because all that you may accumulate in life can vanish within seconds. We must never forget that we have a common humanity because nobody was talking about tribe and religion when the flood came.

“Again, there were unsung heros for humanity who were cooking in their homes and feeding people quietly in the city without expecting a special thank you or media attention for that matter.” Said the CAN boss.

Asked why the committee had to recommend the fixing of strategic infrastructure in the city, he went on:
“Ours was just recommendations and we recommended accordingly so that the linkage bridges can be fixed immediately so that people can return to normal lives again. I mean those places the chairman looked at with the eyes of an engineer.

“As for funds, we were not the only one spending the non governmental organizations equally came in to help out to ease the pains of the people like Caritas Germany and the UN affiliates and many others. And that was why we had N 4 billion handed to the government after doing justice to the funds we received.”

Challenges the committee encountered

On Challenges, the CAN boss stated that they had many to put up with but the major one was the the levels of destruction of private and public infrastructures.

The most shocking challenge he stressed was that of the lack of sincerity and honesty among residents in the town which was a huge deal to him. “Imagine people standing in front of their houses and taking pictures to make bogus claims from the committee which was untrue.

“The chairman is a man of integrity and he showed leadership regardless of our individual differences or internal discordant voices so we know he did his best. Sometimes it is not too much talk that can take care of challenges.

“As for the zoo, most of the animals escaped as you must have heard. Some were trapped and taken care of. The zoo was one of the foremost section to be fenced so they did their best on the problems that it pushed into the metropolis.

On the State of the Nation

Speaking on the security challenges faced by the nation, he went on: ” well to be fair, I think things are better off now. We should commend the armed forces generally for the much they have done because we are better off. People are able to travel unlike before to many parts of the state.

“But we are not out of the woods yet because we were cautioned during the last yuletide period. Hints of suicide bombers lurking around and why we must not drop our guards etc was in the air. But in spite of all these I say kudos to General Musa, the entire armed forces and his entire team for the good work going on to sustain the peace needed for stability of the polity.

“We thank God because there was bumper harvest this year and the intensity over the years have actually lessoned. But it must be stated that security is a major challenge to us as a nation and it must be tackled.”

On the recent approval of the state police by the Governors for improved security he went on: “The state police has been a controversial topic. But if we look at our history, how was policing done? How were things then in terms of security. We are happy they have finally approved it. It’s just because of the kind of country we find ourselves where the law is hardly respected because of the mindset of some people. But it is going to be a project of law. And if the law is properly applied, we actually need it in every state, local government and town.

” Look at our population, we are over 200m but look at the population of our police, how many are they? In civilized nations, so to speak, you have policemen at all levels so one begins to worry, why are we kicking against it? People gave so many reasons but it is purely because of our general disposition towards law and order which must be addressed.

“The idea of state police in its contextual nature is needed. But then how do you structure it? How do you define and design it. But don’t forget some people feel they are above the law. Remember that human beings are all the same. What gives us a level ground is the rule of law.” Said Bakeni.

Post flood audit: 29 Churches covered by Alau Dam collapse flooding