Following the devastations to riverine communities in Edo north and others in neigbhouring states by the annual flooding of the River Niger, President of prominent social-cultural organisation in the zone, Etsako Club 81, Dr. Mamudu Dako told SULEIMAN IDRIS that it is time members of the National Assembly prevail on the federal government to dredge the river.
Etsako Club 81 is drawing attention to numerous challenges faced by the people of Edo North, what exactly are these issues?
Afemailand is the Northern part of Edo state sharing boundary with the west, north central and the eastern parts of Nigeria. It comprises six local government areas. The people are actually a conglomerate of Nigeria. East, west and north, even the languages, all the major languages are spoken in Edo north, their problems are the same bordering the east, the north and the west, but the peculiar problem in this area has to do with flood because of their proximity to the river Niger. Of course some other states have the same problem. The fact that we are actually lacking behind in terms of development in the state also exacerbated the problems.
Can you ascertain the degree of damages to these flood prone areas?
Communities like Anegbette, Osomegbeh, Ukpeko-Orle, Udochi, Uzanu, Agbazi, Ogomere, Ofokpo and numerous others have challenges with serious flood disasters. The river Niger which is close to them has always had its overflow which is not a new thing but since 2012, it got worse, partly because of climate change, and partly because of silting, presently the river Niger is very shallow now. In those days, people used a giant canoe to travel across the river from Agenebode to Ida in Kogi state but now it has become impossible because of the shallowness of the river.
How have these affected the economic activities of that zone?
For us to understand the magnitude of the adverse effect of this, I give just one instance. The Dangote Group had wanted to set up a refinery and a mechanized farm settlement in that axis but had to leave because its machineries could not be transported via the river Niger. Large container vessels cannot navigate it.
How is Etsako club 81 collaborating with the government to find a solution to these challenges?
History showed that most of these communities settled along the bank of the river because of the rich soil which is replenished annually when the flood brings in new soil; it wasn’t as devastating as we are seeing now but in the last eight years, things have changed. We use to give them palliatives every year but we have found out that this is not the solution. Donors are becoming fatigued and the people themselves are tired of such palliatives because they are not beggars. They are hard working people but in recent times, you find out their crops are washed away by flood while their houses are submerged by waters, they are tires of all these. If you watched some of the video clips from the areas this year, you find out that many of them refused to leave. There was this particular woman’s case that touched me so badly, she refused to leave and was pounding yam with her surroundings flooded with her baby strapped on her back. I shed tears at the sight of such a heart wrenching moment; it has become unbearable for them to run away from their ancestral homeland every year. To relocate from your ancestral home is not an easy task. Etsako Club 18 has set up a committee to look into how we can find a permanent solution to these occurrences. Before the committee was set up, I personally undertook a tour of the areas to know what the problem lays and I discovered that there is a giant tributary of the river Niger called river Alika, it is a kind of C-shape tributary of the river Niger. This is the river that most often overflows its bank. Once there is a slight rise as a result of heavy rain or water is released from one of the dams connected with the river Niger, be it in Cameroon, the Benue or anywhere it leads to such flooding.
How do you think these can be tackled?
If government should dredge the river Niger, that will serve as a permanent solution and that will also solve many problem, the river Niger will become navigable, people in Onitsha can now transport their goods to Lokoja by means of waterways which is even a short route and cheaper and even from Abuja to Onitsha down to Bonny, people can then navigate the river Niger seamlessly. The governments will benefit maximally from it and our people in particular will also benefit. We can also sell our agricultural products easily outside of our environment. The state government alone cannot address it, it is bigger than the state to handle, we are working as a club through government agencies and our representatives in the national assembly to let all stakeholders know the magnitude of what is before us. National Assembly members from states like Anambra, Kogi, Niger, Edo and Benue should collaborate together and ensure they present a common front to the federal government to persuade it to dredge the river Niger.
Your club is also calling on the government to declare a state of emergency on health and education?
Schools in the zone are not properly funded, they are poorly manned because most teachers prefer to stay in major cities like Benin in particular and people in Edo north live predominantly in rural areas. Most of the areas are also riverine communities and you find out that manpower development there is very poor because teachers who should develop the manpower are never ready to go serve in those areas. Same for health, teachers and doctors don’t want to go to rural areas and so the people in those areas lack quality education and healthcare.
Are you talking to the Edo state government on these challenges?
This aspect of education involves all the stakeholders and not only the government. The traditional rulers, parents and enlightened people light you and I must be involved in finding a solution to it. It is not only the government. The challenge with our education started after the tenure of the late Professor Ambrose Alli was truncated by a military intervention. Prior to Professor Alli’s emergency as Governor of the old Bendel state, the whole of Edo north had less than 10 secondary schools, his administration multiplied the number beyond geometric ratio. That area right now has more than 500 secondary schools. And of course such explosions gave rise to challenges of management, and I must also remind you that even the schools that existed before the period were predominantly mission schools. Government input was very minimal apart from providing an enabling environment and some level of control. They were not involved financially, even administratively. The mission ran those schools, but then the Alli administration took over the schools and the problem of funding became a major one. Prof. Alli of blessed memory probably had a road map but because his tenure was cut short, we only knew that he brought those schools.
What are they?
He built colleges of education to train teachers, built a university to also train teachers and unfortunately when he left office, the whole system collapsed, I believed subsequent governments were overwhelmed with the enormity of the challenges confronting them. The cost of running these schools was huge. The schools are there quite alright but no manpower and facilities to train students. No laboratory equipment to, you find students in large populations but nobody to cater for them. Prof. Alli made parents realize that education was free and their wards could go to school free. Till date no government has been able to solve this challenge.
Is the Obaseki administration doing anything in that regard?
I attended a town hall meeting at the instance of Governor Godwin Obaseki where he outlined a very powerful roadmap, he did acknowledged the fact that the whole system is rotten, from what he saw on ground, he decided to start from the basic, that is the primary schools and the junior secondary schools, from where he hope to move forward.
Why federal government must urgently dredge the River Niger – Dr. Dako
