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Reuters And The Burden Of Proof

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Reuters And The Burden Of Proof

By: Zagazola Makama

The Reuters report, early December, 2022, accusing the Nigerian military of forcing the abortion of the pregnancies of over 10,000 Boko Haram female abductees since 2013 has raised several towering questions over the credibility of the 171 years old global news agency.

Reuters reported on 7th December, 2022: “Since at least 2013, the Nigerian military has conducted a secret, systematic and illegal abortion programme in the country’s northeast, ending at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls, a Reuters investigation has found. Many had been kidnapped and raped by Islamist militants. Resisters were beaten, held at gunpoint or drugged into compliance, witnesses say.”

Reuters, according to the investigative report, interviewed 30 such women and girls to arrive at the conclusion that “at least 10,000” pregnancies were forcedly aborted by the Nigerian military.

The report triggered several questions that drew a sharp contrast between the situation the  Reuters investigation portrayed and the situation in reality that obtains across the terrorised Northeast over the last ten years of the Boko Haram militancy.

State Actors and active participants in the humanitarian crisis precipitated by the Boko Haram militancy across the northeast have expressed bafflement at what they have described as the utter untruths of the Reuters investigative report which, they suggest, was invisibly, and quite invincibly, sponsored by international and domestic conflict entrepreneurs as one of calculated attempts at frustrating the Nigerian government and the military in the current ‘marvelously successful’ offensives against the northeast’s terrorising militants.

The calculation, they believe, is to stir the ire of the International community assisting Nigeria with the required weapons to combat terror to not only halt such assistances but to also smear the country’s authorities and its military with the tar brush of criminality, in contravention of international laws.

Already, a U.S. Senator, Jim Risch, who is the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has requested a review of U.S. security assistance and cooperation programs

to the Nigerian Military. This, it is believed, is to pitch the International Criminal Court against a weaponless Nigeria, weakening the country to a point where while it is grappling with its image at the global level, the conflict entrepreneurs would be finetuning and perfecting strategies for the perpetuation of the northeast terror ad infitum.

“The Reuters report has many pit-holes,” Mairo Mandara, the Special Adviser and Coordinator to the Governor of Borno State on Sustainable Development, Partnership and Humanitarian Supports, maintains, asserting, “the report was not scientific.”

Mairo, who was the former Country Representative for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and also supervised over 260 International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) presently providing humanitarian support to Borno State, raised questions on the motives behind the report published in 2022.

She queried: “Why keep the report of a crime that was committed nine years ago until now? Was there any physical force during the abortion? What is the motive behind keeping the report of such a draconian action until now?

The civil society activist continued: “The National Human Rights Commission(NHRC), shouldn conduct an independent investigation on the matter.”

She maintained that the Reuters report is calculated at coinciding with the visit of the International Crime Court(ICC) officials to Nigeria to investigate what they termed as “Nigerian military atrocities” in order to rope them into War crimes.

Mandara said in 2013 the military never had access to Boko Haram enclaves, let alone find any women to abort their pregnancies, querying: “Where did the military meet these pregnant women to abort their pregnqncies? Where was the abortion site?”

She maintained that by keeping the report for nine years, (if they knew), Reuters, by Nigerian law, is complicit in the reported crime. Believing that someone sponsored the Reuters report, she queried: “Who is sponsoring the report?”

No Concrete Evidence – 200 CSOs

Bulama Abiso is the Chairman of the Network of Civil Societies in Borno State. He coordinates the activities of more than 200 Non Government Organisations across the North-Eastern state’s of Borno,Yobe and Adamawa.

“We saw the damning Reuters report,” he admitted, maintaining, “There is no concrete evidence that such a thing (forced abortion by the military) has ever happened.

“We as  the network of Civil Society Organisations have been on ground since the inception of this crises. From the inception upto date, none of the over 200 members of our network, has ever informed us of these atrocities on ground.

“When we heard of the report, we

 immediately set up our own investigative mechanism through the Community And Accountability Forum by some of our organisations, where we tasked various peace groups to furnish us with information on this allegation,  but as I am talking to you, nobody has come up with any concrete evidence showing that such a thing has ever  happened in Borno state.

“We also liase with the heads of the  traditional council across the 27 LGAs to help us identify any victim of such atrocities but nobody has  come faword to complain,” Abiso said.

He said: “We are taken aback by the report,” querying the motive, “Why now?”

Abiso believed that those “probably” benefitting from the Boko Haram insurgency are frustrated by what he described as the successes currently achieved by the military in the terror war as well as the degree of peace and security consequently achieved, characterised by what he described as the massive return of thousands of IDPs to their ancestral homes.

He believed that some people are determined to truncate the efforts of government and military at fighting for total peace and security in the northeast.

“We will not accept any truncation of efforts at restoring peace and security in the northeast,” he warned.

Hamsatu Allamin is the Executive Director of the NGO, Allamin Foundation for Peace. She also heads the Social Networks of Victims of Disappearances and Survivors of Boko Haram Abductions, where she  managed and conducts periodic meetings with at least 9,000 women associated with the Boko Haram violence.

Allamin said having resided and operated in the Boko Haram conflict terrain since its beginning in 2009, “I have never for once heard anybody, either a victim or a victim’s relations, talking about forced abortion by the military.”

She continued: “I can talk to you about different atrocities committed by the military during the Boko Haram insurgency, but I have never heard of the military committing forced abortion.

“If there was anything of that nature, I can assure you that I will be the first to go on the media to speak against it because having sat down and analysed it (the Reuters report), honestly, to me, it makes no sense.”

She queried: “At that time (2013), the abortions were said to have been committed, how organised were the military?”

She recalled that Boko Haram militants started abducting women late 2012, explaining that by 2013, they were only in their Sambisa enclaves, and they had not started organising themselves and they had not settled down enough to gather such a massive population of women and girls whose pregnancies the military would abort.

“There were alot of female survivors coming out of captivity with pregnancies, and they were kept at Giwa Barracks where they delivered their babies,” Allamin recalled, querying, “Why didn’t they (the military) abort the pregnancies?”

Allamin recalled further: “I had thousands of women released from captivity and military facility with their pregnancies and delivered in my hands, but I have never had of anything about abortion by the military.”

She maintained: The burden of proof now lies with the persons (Reuters) who conducted the investigation,” saying, “People like us working in the field, especially Human Rights officials, are interested in even knowing the reality of the situation.”

Allamin was not certain on the motive or sponsorship of the report.

“We cannot run away from the reality that every conflict has its sponsors; and many people, internally and externally, have become conflict entrepreneurs,” she said, maintaining, “Even among us Nigerians, there are many actors who will never want this conflict to end.”

Allamin postulated: “Boko Haram conflict has become an economy itself; many people have become contractors etc due to Boko Haram and, therefore, they will never want this conflict to end.”

She called on Nigerians and the global community to challenge the report.

“The abortion report concerns all of us Nigerians, not only the military,” she said, believing, “if it happens to be true, it will affect this country (Nigeria) seriously.”

Allamin advised the Nigerian authorities to fish out the reporters to prove to the country that the military committed the forced abortion.

“If they cannot prove it, then there are consequences,” she warned.

In a separate chat, Babashehu Abdulkareen, the overall Chairman of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), a government-backed militia fighting in collaboration with the Nigerian military, described the report as a “fiction”.

Babashehu said that the CJTF has no fewer than 26,000 members spread across the nooks and crannies of 24 Local Governments Areas in Borno, working toward ensuring that the communities in the North-East are safe from possible attacks by Boko Haram insurgents.

He said that since 2012, when its members picked up clubs to chase out Boko Haram from their communities to Sambisa and the Lake Chad enclaves, nobody has ever reported such cases to the CJTF.

“The Civilian JTF and the military are the first respondent’s in every situation. We are also the first to receive all surrendered victims  who returned from Boko Haram enclaves.

“There are mechanisms set up to ensure that the victims are well taken care of, especially by the military, whose responsibility  is to profile them and ensure their safety. Shortly after the profiling, they are handed over to the Borno State government for rehabilitation and reintegration.

“After their reintegration, they will be handed over to the Chairmen of their respective LGAs as well as the leadership of the CJTF who will monitor their day-to-day activities,” he said.

Babashehu queried: “So at what point did they (military) abort  pregnancy and in which part of the state without anyone knowing about it? If the military have been killing or aborting the babies of their victims, how would the over 82,064 Boko Haram fighters with members of their families  surrendered to the troops?”

He disclosed: “There are over 20,000 women who returned with their husbands while some returned on their own. These women also have about 41,040 children, comprising those that were born at the rehabilitation camps and those they returned with from the enclaves of the insurgents.

“Recently, we counted about six women who were conceived in the camps. When they gave birth, the matrons and the health workers catered for their immediate needs. They provided them with clothing, food, sanitary pads and everything they needed to support their needs. As we speak, four among the wives named their children after me. The latest was this week, when the wife of one ex-militant leader, named “Jundullah” conceived at the rehabilitation camp.” he said.

Corroborating the claims, Dr. Muhammed Guluze, The Permanent Secretary of the Borno State Ministry of Health, described the report as outright mischief and misleading with the intention to malign the state and the country.

Guluze said: “I was the Medical Director at the State Specialist Hospital in 2013. Of course the State Specialist Hospital was fully functional in 2013, but such a thing never happened, and can never happen, in a hospital of the status of State Specialist Hospital.

“We have ethics governing our practices and you don’t just cause abortion or carry out abortion without indication. Even at a worst case scenario, which necessitated evacuation, there must be medical indication for risk or perhaps the pregnancy has untoward effects on the health of the mother, in which respect, to save the mother, the doctor is obliged to abort a pregnancy.

“And that is the only reason why there should be an abortion. Otherwise, it is unethical to do any abortion and it cannot happen in a hospital of that nature. So it’s like the Reuters report was a mischievous one aimed at mentioning the hospital as one of the centers where this type of criminal act was carried out.

“Abortion is criminal to do outside the medical indication. And to the best of my knowledge, nothing of such has happened in the state Specialist Hospital and the records are there for anyone to see.

“The story is false, and it was written with malicious intent against the state or the hospital in this regard. I discountenance this type of report and we welcome any kind of investigation that will be commissioned to look into the records of the hospital. I want to assure you that we will come out clean in this regard.

“I don’t know how they arrived at the 10,000 figure. It means that every female Boko Haram captive had undergone abortion, which is not possible.  It also means that atleast three pregnancies are being aborted every day for this number of years, which could have been known to everybody.”

He queried: How did they (Reuters) get their data? is it by estimation or  what investigation did they carry out to arrive at 10,000? Where did they get the data from? What data was available to them to conclude that this numbers of abortion was committed? In their report they said they interviewed  30 women, and they arrived at 10,000? What type of investigation is that?”

Guluze maintained: “For this significant large numbers of abortion to be committed within this short period of time, it will have been glaring to everybody, not just the organization that reported it. It would have been glaring to more than 52 partners supporting the health sector in the state, including six United Nations Agencies – WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNOCHA and IOM. So I don’t see how an outrageous figure of 10,000 abortion will be carried out without anybody mentioning it.

“Every two weeks, we have a coordination meeting at the Public Health Emergency Operation Center, and all health issues are tabled for discussions; to move the state foward. The challenges and the inadequacies of the system are being brought forward for discussion too, and never at any time, that anybody, whether partner or government, raised the issue of criminal abortion going on in this state over this period of time.

“We started having IDPs in 2014, the IDPs coming from various Local Government Areas. But we started having rescued captives in 2016. For even somebody to date back such incidence to 2013, it means he doesn’t even know what he was saying. At that time, there were no IDPs and no rescued female captives. So I don’t see how this report will be authentic.

“And even when there were IDPs and rescued female captives, we had, and still have, an existing referral system in the camps where ambulances are stationed in mobile clinics with our healthcare providers to transport any patient to secondary healthcare facilities for adequate attention.”

He queried: “So why would a soldier escort any pregnant rescued female captive IDP to  a hospital?”, explaining, “Their (soldiers) work is mainly to support in protecting the IDPs and they are always positioned outside the camps.” 

Dr Babashehu Muhammed, The Medical Director of the Special Specialist Hospital, said that the hospital has ever since maintained a CCTV network, and everyone is free to come and review the films, to see if any soldier was ever seen coming in with any pregnant victim for abortion.

“We have also carried out our investigations to know if it was really carried out illegally. But out of the 700 practitioners in various departments in the hospital, nobody has ever heard of such thing called illegal abortion.

“The report was more like a media trial without substantial evidence. No staff in this hospital will be ready to risk his job by carrying out such a criminal act.

“We, therefore, challenge the media organisation to prove their claims with concrete evidence or even publish names of those involved. We are available for any type of investigation by anybody.”

It Can’t Happen In Our IDP Camps – Borno SEMA

Yabawa Kolo,The Chairman of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), argued that it was not possible for such atrocities to be perpetrated in the IDP camps in Borno State, due to the fact that the camps are situated in an environment enmeshed with formidable response mechanisms and accountability to gender violence.

Kolo said every camp has a Camp Coordination  and Camp Management Committee, comprising such organizations and agencies as the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), International Federation of Women Lawyers, Ministry of Justice, Police, National Agency for the Prohibition of trafficking in persons (NAPTIP), Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the National Emergency Management Agency(NEMA).

The Borno SEMA Chief said there are other international partners working in the protection sector such as the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the United Nations Population Fund.

She argued that under the “sharp watchful eyes” of these organizations and international agencies with impeccable reputation for adherence to laws, such atrocious acts could never have happened, especially at a time when the eyes of the entire global community was on the terror-rattled North-East Nigeria.

Reuters Report Lacked The Required Credibility – Borno NUJ Chairman

The Chairman of the Borno State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Dauda Iliya, dismissed the Reuters secret abortion report as lacking the required credibility.

“As far as the union is concerned, journalist have been covering this Theartre since 2009, and we have never heard of any facility in which the military runs secret abortions. 

“Over 400 journalists, including over 30 correspondents of various foreign and Nigerian media stations, operate in Borno State,” he disclosed, saying, “if it (secret abortion) really happened over the last 12 years of the insurgency, one of these journalists would have reported it.”

The union leader stressed: “It is very strange that  none of the over 400 journalists in Borno state, despite their exposure, experience and contact, has ever uncovered and reported such things. It (the report) came to us as a very huge surprise.” 

Iliya continued: “The military has many facilities it uses in the rehabilitation of repentant  Boko Haram terrorists and commanders. Sometimes journalists are given access into these facilities; but we have never heard of any secret or forced abortion in the course of our interactions with the inmates and their families.” 

He argued that more than 82,000 insurgents, their families and children have so far surrendered, and out of this number, more than 40,000 are children.

“If truly the military carries out, or has ever carried out, secret abortion, how will you get this number of children?”, Iliya queried.

He remarked: “I don’t want to say the report is baseless, but it lacked the required credibility.”

The Military Doesn’t Support Pregnancy Termination

In separate chats with  the Commander 7 Division Medical Services and Hospital, Lt. Col. Adeniyi Ogunsakin, and Sergeant Caesar Ojoko, Representative of 7 Division Medical Hospital at the Giwa barracks health clinic for inmates, said as military health workers, they are always concerned about the condition of terrorists’ wives and their daughters arrested by troops, with pregnancies.

“We don’t terminate pregnancies. It is not a global best practice. As such, there is no way the military will support such an act to be carried out by medical officers in any of its health facilities,” Lt. Col. Ogunsakin argued.

“In our hospitals, We have CCTV cameras that monitor everybody that comes in and goes out of the hospital. In fac, we are able to pick the sounds of those who come for their drugs through the HDMI”, he explained.

He described the secret abortion report as “false”, challenging everyone to produce proof.

There Has Never Been Any Report On Alleged Secret Abortion – Police

The Borno State Commissioner of Police, Abdu Umar, said there was no record of any reported incidents associated with the military alleged to have carried out forced abortion.

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Umar noted that the police was the only agency with the mandate to investigate rape cases as well as to prosecute illegal abortion perpetrators, noting that any one caught engaging in such act would be  liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.

The CP quoted: “The criminal code Act, section 228, says Any person who, with intent to procure miscarriage of a woman whether she is or is not with child, unlawfully administers to her or causes her to take any poison or other noxious thing, or uses any force of any kind, or uses any other means whatever, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.

“Section 229 says  Any woman who, with intent to procure her own miscarriage whether she is or is not with child, unlawfully administers to herself any poison or other noxious thing, or uses any force of any kind, or uses any other means whatever, or permits any such thing or means to be administered or used to her, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.”

The Police Commissioner maintained: “No Divisional officer under the command has ever received any complaints on alleged forced abortion by the Nigerian military or any other persons.”

Umar said that when the report came up, the command tasked its men from the monitoring and evaluation units, Intelligence units, Human Right desk as well as  the Criminal Investigations Department, to investigate and come up with the summary of all the cases of human right abuses recorded in the state from 2013 to 2023.

He noted that of all the cases of human rights abuses running into thousands, there was only one case recorded  in 2018  related to rape of 14 year old IDP, reported to the police, has to do with the military.

According to the CP, the military personnel was later charged with disobedience to standing order, assault and defilement, by 

Theatre Command Special Court Martial and dismissed for the crime.

He was later, transferred to the police command to face criminal prosecution.

We’re Not Aware of Secret Abortion By Military – FIDA

The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), a Non-Governmental, Non-Profit Organization made up women lawyers, with the mission to promote, protect and preserve the rights, interests and wellbeing of women and children, said it is not aware that any of such thing happened in Borno State since 2013. 

Zara Yaqub, The FIDA Vice Chairperson in Borno State, said: “I am an expert in Gender Dimensions and Criminal Justice Response to Terrorism, and in this capacity, I have been working closely with the military over the years, but I have never come across or heard the military carrying out secret abortion on Boko Haram female captives.”

We Aid Safer Family Planning Services In North-East Nigeria – MSION

Marie Stopes International Organisation Nigeria (MSION) has for many years, been providing sexual reproductive health services across all the states of Nigeria, including Borno.

MSION has been delivering its services since it opened its first clinic in Nigeria in 2009.

“In doing so, we became one of the few providers of short-term, long-acting and reversible voluntary family planning services, including permanent contraception in Nigeria, and through the hard work of our dedicated teams are helping to increase awareness and contraception usage across the country.

“We continue to extend the services we offer in Nigeria to increase the uptake of sexual and reproductive health services”, Mr Jonathan Nachia, the MSION Research Monitoring and Evaluation Officer in charge of North-East, disclosed this at a one-day meeting with stakeholders from the health sector in Borno.

Our investigations, corroborated by MSION, show that the International NGO has averted no fewer than 6,344 abortions, and 5,719 unsafe abortions, 79 maternal deaths, and 4,581 mortality and morbidity, among others in Borno state through the provision of family planning services for women in Borno state, thus preventing unplanned pregnancies and the consequences of unsafe abortion that could result from such pregnancies.

It has also claimed to have averted 15,317 unintended pregnancies through the provision of family planning services to 59,452 clients in Borno state.

The INGO recently said that it reached 3.1million clients with sexual and reproductive health services in Nigeria in 2021.

Impeccable anonymous source working with Marie Stopes said the INGO was deeply shocked by the mention of their name in the forceful abortion allegation.

The source argued that the INGO conducts its operations in strict adherence to International and Nigerian laws as well as International best practices in the provision of healthcare services. It, therefore, can neither indulge in illegal abortion, nor aid any person or organization to perpetrate it. 

The name of the game is proof. The Nigerian government and military await Reuters to provide proof or evidence  on its –’secret abortion’ report. This is imperative in the interest of the credibility of reportage the global news agency is reputed for over the last 171 years.

***Zagazola Makama, is a Counter Insurgency Expert and Security Analyst in the Lake Chad region. 

You can reach us @ infor@zagazola.org 

Reuters And The Burden Of Proof

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One year after, the killer flood in Maiduguri, a reporter’s diary of survival moves by residents, the medical sector, coordination errors, leading to more challenges beyond the damaged Alau Dam

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One year after, the killer flood in Maiduguri, a reporter’s diary of survival moves by residents, the medical sector, coordination errors, leading to more challenges beyond the damaged Alau Dam

By: Bodunrin Kayode

Sometimes God creates Providence for mankind. We may not know the weight of His handiwork until something unusual happens and we begin to reflect and surely thank Him for the miracle that resonated with us mere mortals days or months after. Its been one year since the deadly September flood from Alau dam that devastated the Borno State capital Maiduguri. And yet the pains felt by many residents are still fresh as yesterday. Especially those whose loved ones are now part of the statistics recorded as missing or dead.

Many affected residents have moved on by relocating from the customs/ Muna water basin area while others have returned trying to pick the pieces of their lives together again in what is left of the old structure. The Alau dam tragedy has not gone away from the hearts of many residents who lost human lives which to me as a watcher of events is the most valuable of all the losses. One year on since the raging flood attack on the state capital, many residents are still counting their losses like wounds from the 15 year old insurgency.

For me, its one year of narrow escape from a devastating flood that would have consumed me if I was living in the heart of the customs area. This is because I almost paid for an accommodation few months to the flood. Only God that would have helped me because I have never swam in my life before. And even when one knows how to swim, the torrent of the raging dam water was so fast that one needed to be careful not to be swept into any of the major tributaries of nearby rivers with fixed routes to move to the dark deep abyss of nowhere.

Most residents of greater Maiduguri who spoke with this reporter in that axis said that they have never seen such devastation in their existence. The flood which rushed into town with such high velocity at the wee hours of the night of September 10 consumed a large part of Customs area right up to 505 housing estate and landing at the farm centre general area killing several vulnerable residents in its trail. It virtually encompassed the fertilizer plant and the adjoining farm centre housing estate which is currently undergoing rehabilitation by Governor Babagana Zulum. About 150 people were said to have perished in the water which took over the entire post office like an intimidating sea with all manner of dangerous snakes that escaped from the zoo. Other animals like the lion have been so caged that they refused to move out. One year after manager of the zoo, Don Best Abatcha is still raking his brain on how he would replace all those animals that were killed by the angry flood. All his customers have gone while some have relocated from the town after the flood. On a whole, sources who should know claim that about 15 percent of the city centre was submerged in water right up to post office.

How I escaped the flood

For me, I was supposed to have been in my apartment at customs that fateful day in September 2024 but the negotiations with the caretaker had gone sour and I had to dump the house for very strong reasons.

First, the place had been battered by the previous tenant and second the toilets were unkempt and needed repairs for privacy when using it. I tried to negotiate by getting him to repair the place, but he would not bulge. That to me was why I had to look elsewhere for a much more decent apartment. I actually stumbled on another at the other side of town close to the 7 division of the Nigerian Army. That ill fated apartment i avoided was located about 60 metres from the main entrance to the customs office. All the residents on that part of the town lost every thing they had called material things. Not one was spared. And I would have been one of them if not for divine providence. The only people and institutions spared partially were those who had one or two story buildings like the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH).

Reactions by survivors of the flood

I recently drove down to a restaurant to eat just opposite the customs area where I was supposed to have been residing but the place was a shadow of itself. The igbo lady name withheld almost in tears went into a litany of woes while narrating her experience in the past year. ” I lost everything in that flood. The water took away my utensils and pots and I had to start from scratch. That is why you could not recognize this place when you parked earlier. It has indeed changed and we still try our best to survive. Watin man go do even if dem refused to compensate some of us with the 100k, they announced will reach us. Will I comit suicide? she chuckled.

“I saw you when you arrived but was wondering why you did not come out of the car. Did not know you were struggling to locate the place.
Customer, I never knew you were the one but welcome to the relic of the old place you used to eat lunch. We thank God for being alive but I must tell you we went through hell and back since last year.

“We were surrounded by water when it happened so we had no where to go to. We rushed to the peak of the customs fly over and stayed there for two days but it was on the third day we were rescued from being killed in case the water had risen more than the ground floor of the customs building which we were seeing. The thing started slowly on the 9th but by 2 am of the 10th of September, we would have become history if that fly over was not there. We looked towards Gwange, it was water, our front was also water and it was rising slowly to consume us. Well one year after, I thank God for his mercies. Recording her woes in my brain I sat down finally, took my lunch and drove off towards Gwange area, glanced at the renovation done to the police division and then off to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH). One year after the Gwange police division has really bounced back. Normal police activities were going on. The place looked more presentable now than it was about a year ago. A lot of houses and shops have been renovated one year after. Some actually got compensated by the Gujibawu committee while many others did the job themselves. The tension on mechanics who had to bring back to life hundreds of cars has gone down. Many residents who could afford the bill never waited for the committee to compensate them. They have all moved on hoping to see each day as it comes.

UMTH one year after

With the will power to go on and Professor Ahmed Ahidjo on the driver’s seat, a lot of recovery has taken place in the UMTH. From recent briefings by the Chief Medical Director (CMD) Ahidjo, repairs have taken place on most of the high grade radiation machines now working. A brand new MIR machine has been donated by Emeka Offor.
Lots of Damage was done especially to equipment on the ground floor while the first floor was relatively peaceful on that fateful day. The CMD noted in one of his recent briefs to newsmen that over 20 billion naira worth of property was destroyed by the flood. But they have been able to stand on their feet now in spite of all odds. Lots of items have been replaced but more needs to be purchased to keep the hospital going on.

The assistance of the medical sector

One year after the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in Damboa road has since returned to normal duties. The urgency to save souls about to perish in the flood has gone down because every one seems to be fine now. The surveillance pillar has gone back to its primary duties. Hunt down any strange scourge and put an end to their existence. They hardly have time for petty politics or debates over the next route Ebola will take if they are careless. And what if they are not as vigilant as Stella Adadevoh who knew it but stood her ground to take the bullet for Nigerians.
Before I close my notebook, let me report to you that those who were saved miraculously are still alive to tell their tales of survival. Others who assisted in burial of loved ones have put the episode behind them. None of them were exempted from the tragedy. They were all touched in one way or the other because one friend or colleague or relative lost someone in the flood. Business premises of loved ones at Monday market area were devastated by the flood. Some of their relatives lost shops at post office. And they had to support them because the flood committee largesse did not get to them.
On a whole, they did their best ensuring that opportunistic illnesses were not allowed to spread all over the town. Sadly, the ministry of information could not work effectively with the health sector to synchronize statistics to fish out what is needed by news hounds. The Commissioner was doing his briefing in a separate venue while the entire health sector was briefing as a team at the EOC. That was a wrong precedent which did not help the media coordination.

What future for the Alau Dam?

It is obvious that the Alau Dam has come to stay regardless of the threat it still poses to residents of Maiduguri over 20 km from where it is located. At least 80 billion naira has been voted for the repairs of the dam by President Bola Tinubu. And as things stands now, we are awaiting the rehabilitation work to start so that the facility can return back to safety. The entire population in greater Maiduguri has been on red alert expressing fears that the water may still rise beyond expected limits. To reduce the fears of residents, Governor Babagana Zulum has actually visited the facility several times to ensure that the safety of residents is not compromised. He has directed the site engineers to watch and ensure that the water never goes beyond a particular level.

Regardless of these assurances, the Maiduguri/ jere axis which has formed the greater Maiduguri was also not spared from recent flash floods during the ongoing rainy season. So this time around, apart from the latent threats from the Alau Dam, Chibok, Damboa and parts of Biu suffered tremendously from the flash floods from the rains in the state. As expected Bulumkutu, Abuja talaka, Dala and environs where equally threatened by flash floods. One year after many people don’t want a repeat of the last flood. For residents in Maiduguri, their very existence is threatened whenever they see any form of unusual water rising towards them. The last flood was a terribly bad omen. Nobody wants another flood in Maiduguri no matter how small.

One year after, the killer flood in Maiduguri, a reporter’s diary of survival moves by residents, the medical sector, coordination errors, leading to more challenges beyond the damaged Alau Dam

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Money: A Change Driver, You Hold The Four Aces in Human Equations

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Money: A Change Driver, You Hold The Four Aces in Human Equations

By: Balami Lazarus

One of the good and most interesting things about children is their mindset. Theirs are pure and natural actions and inactions. Their imaginations are also wild and crazy. To them, all things are possible and positive without limitations. We were indeed once like them.

As a child, I used to tell myself and my parents that when I grow up, I will have plenty of money to buy all my needs and wants. The thought of this makes me laugh my heart out. And here I am, an adult descending in age, faced with a bale of classified and catalogued financial commitments portioned and dished out to family, relatives, and friends in their plates of needs, where money is the change driver to these challenges.

The power and influence of money as a change driver in the human equation is a permanent denominator in lives and in death—its role in funerals and burials is significant.

I know now that this one piece of work will be a change driver in the equation that has refused to be balanced between Ballama Shettima Mustapha, my childhood friend since our teens and twenties in Zaria and Maiduguri. As I write with my pen plugged in a creative scenario, he knows and understands what I mean.

Let us now take a look at this event and begin to consider the power and influence of money in changing equations because with it you hold the four aces. When he was introduced and called upon as the Chief Launcher at a fundraising event. There were patches of noise of disrespect and mockery. He looks simple in personality and dressing as he walks to the podium. His steps of confidence were rhythms of affluence and capacity. With the influence of wealth and power of money was the fragrance that enveloped the hall.In a blink of an eye his donation brought a complete silence and stillness; a pin drop was a noise, if at all there were any.Do you now agree with me that he has changed an equation in the attitudes of the audience? My friend can now laugh.

I hope you all have heard some individuals will tell you that their problem is money. And I say, if that is their mind and

thinking I stand to tell them with sincerity of purpose that he/ she will find it difficult and near impossible to get hat money they are looking for. For me, money as a legal tender has never been my challenge. My grudges and axe to grind with money is how to make the money through wealth creation processes that should comes with positive human transformation as a change driver.

Most of us are aware that money has always been the quick means, reasons, and motives behind crimes and negative changes of attitudes, behavior, and character in humans. In fact, to say it loud and clear, it is the driver of most crimes time immemorial in societies.

It has made many people change from whom you used to know to something else. I have also seen where it has made some stupid stooges and factotums because of their uncontrollable and excessive quest and love for money, stretching them to evil dungeons.And that allegedly, if you want to change a course of charges in a police station, offer money, and automatically the equation will change in favor of either of the parties.

However, not all human equations can be changed by money. Where conscience, integrity, and morality are disciplined by men as a pathfinder, money is secondary in the affairs of such a society, as the case may be.

Balami, a publisher/columnist. 08036779290

Money: A Change Driver, You Hold The Four Aces in Human Equations

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My Binoculars: Memo to Governor Zulum on the state of emergencies in the Borno health sector and the perceived interventions of development partners in ending the war

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My Binoculars: Memo to Governor Zulum on the state of emergencies in the Borno health sector and the perceived interventions of development partners in ending the war

By: Bodunrin Kayode

Your Excellency, I must congratulate you for the myriads of achievements you have recorded in the entire state since you assumed duty. Your development of Borno regardless of the saddening insurgent war tormenting residents is quite remarkable. For me as a watcher of this kind of persistent social engineering, the health sector comes to mind as one that has literarily risen from dry grass to grace. My binoculars cannot forget in a hurry, your nocturnal visits to the hospitals when the guards of some of the medical managers were down. Many of them were shocked when caught napping at home instead of working while some accused you of barging into general hospitals without notice when you were sworn in. You did this obviously at very odd hours to find out how you can turn things around for the common man who has nowhere to go but those existing battered facilities when sick. A template has been set for the pretenders among them and they now know you don’t get pleased by eye service.

Before your first term of intervention as Governor, almost every thing regarding this sector was done haphazardly. Principal Medical officers (PMO’s) lacked the basic equipment to average at least 3/10 marks in terms of efficiency. Patients were told to buy 95 percent of their drugs outside the hospitals while the non governmental organizations (NGO’s) feasted on the ignorance of the generality of the residents. They were seen as the only saving grace within the emergency sub sector in the ministry of Health. Some humanitarians criminally feasted on the ignorance of the people by making huge harvests by way of corrupt blood money from a war which had no reason to have lasted till this day. Some of them came in as mere money mongers claiming to want to eliminate diseases like polio which have tormented residents long before you started your first tenure. No wonder some of them rent homes for three to four years for themselves because they don’t expect the war to end very soon. They are clogs in the wheels of the non kinetic which the military insist entails 75 percent of the efforts to end the war. Many benefitted immensely from the last flood which ravaged the city of Maiduguri one year ago.

BOACSDHR’s role in managing duplication and rouge NGO’s who lack the interest of the people

And this is why you set up an agency of accountability to streamline particularly the international NGOs who did what they wanted and felt they were untouchable and cannot be criticized.
Prof, you brought accountability within the health sector when you set up the Borno State Agency for the coordination of sustainable development and humanitarian response (BOACSDHR) in 2019 as part of government strategy to streamline the influx of some of these NGOs with twisted mindsets into the state. And I must tell you some of us watchers are very proud of the cerebral inputs into its steady growth by your Chief Adviser and coordinator Dr Mairo Mandara. She has actually been whipping them into line. No cow is sacred under her watch. They either conform with your visions and agenda or are shown the way out. Indeed within the 15 years of this pogrom against the Borno people so many unexpected woes have been unleashed on residents. The last one was the bursting of the seams of the Auno Dam which supplies drinking water to the state capital.
Sadly, while many of the NGOs meant well and came in with deep empathy to help the people, some others were just out to exploit the vulnerabilities of residents by converting resources meant for their well being to their fat pockets. Some carried a puritanical air of importance as if they are even above their parent bodies in Europe and America. Some of them are so full of themselves that they forget that the government should be on the drivers seat even if they are the ones paying the piper.

Compromises within the system

Sadly your Excellency some of your appointees are also bootlickers who worship international bodies because of what they gain at the sidelines from them. They see some international bodies as angels not made from dust like the rest of us as such they cannot make mistakes. But thank God you had the political will to create the BOACSDHR to coordinate humanitarian and development activities in the state towards efficient and effective use of resources to achieve the Borno state development aspiration to restore the age old honour, dignity and prosperity of the state, while ensuring all citizens and future generations have access to basic necessities and thrive in every stage of their lives. This has also assisted in elimination of deliberate duplication of activities between the international, national and local NGOs within the health sector. With this, the mindset of your appointees are being adjusted intermittently so that the Borno residents will become the ultimate winner. We may not all be perfect but there is always ample chance to move closer to the realm of excellence which some of us can decipher that you long for in the system especially now that the state teaching Hospital is on the way.

When Heads of agencies play with mediocrity

Your Excellency, I had a strange experience with one of your political appointees name withheld who castigated me recently for criticizing the world bodies like the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). I will leave his name out so that he doesn’t earn reprisal form you. But he is of the medical sector and claims to have been made in unimaid. He sounded so subservient to the development partners in his comments that I started wondering if he actually went to a university as he claimed. He is of a completely different mindset from your orientation which is to look out for excellence at all times even as you crush mediocrity. I used to think that all who work for a particular principal like you will adopt most of your characteristics. But this young fellow is a complete sell out in health health system far different from Professor Baba Mallam Gana whom he works under. He sounded so mediocre for my liking that I started wondering if the civil service is all about eye service and yes sir. If not what is it about the WHO that we can’t criticize them if they stray away from your plan? Have they become gods or the anti Christ that we should begin to fear to tell them to fall in line when they make mistakes? How much money are they spending in Nigeria that we should pamper them like some holier than thou agency who do not make mistakes? The same applies to the UNICEF and the rest of them. If you could say no to the world bank in the acresal project in the Dala swamps and they finally reached you at a common ground, does it not mean that no agency is above being corrected if they do not flow with our indigenous way of doing things?

Need for an urgent law guaranteeing emergency care for all

After what I want to describe as the careless deaths of two women at the Umaru Shehu hospital about two years ago due to alleged abandonment by the Medical Officer in charge then Dr Philibus, I agree totally that we must create a law “guaranteeing emergency care” for all regardless of ability to pay. It is important too harp on this your Excellency because we have a lot of awkward emergencies cropping up in the health sector which we are yet to fix. And some of these challenges such as neglect of desperate emergencies of residents, cut across the primary to tertiary level not only in this state but in Nigeria as a whole. We may also have to exempt the health sector from too much politics which it sometimes suffer from depending on who is in charge. In saner climes medical practitioners like Dr Philibus would be defending himself against the medical council of Nigeria by now for neglecting obvious emergencies brought right before his nose. Even if the ministry did not supply him with common cotton wool, it was not an excuse to drive those crying ladies to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) where he insisted they should go to without any first aid to keep them alive. After the medical council ordeal, the families of those late politicians would have dragged him to court.for further damage no matter who he thinks he is in the medical sector. Health managers must be more vigilant to ensure some of these perceived harmful practices of negligence does not go on in any of the sub sectors outside emergency. Keen binocular watching of local and international partners like the NGO’s should be stepped up not only by health managers but even the surveillance pillar to ensure that the common man does not die like chicken because he lacks the resources to pay for a particular service especially if he is not registered in the national or state health insurance scheme.

Medical practitioners in the 36 state management levels should also realize that issues like emergencies in the government hospitals not carried out free should bother them. And they should not necessarily bother about less important issues within the sector. We should be interested in lives of the common man other than those with the ability to go for medical tourism in Europe or Asia. This is real food for thought that should bother all progressive health managers and you and your colleagues in the 36 States of the federation.

My Binoculars: Memo to Governor Zulum on the state of emergencies in the Borno health sector and the perceived interventions of development partners in ending the war

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