By Mahmud Jega
Flooding of Biblical proportions such as the one now unfolding in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, would have been expected in a coastal city or one situated by a huge river. But here it was, in a place described on all Geography maps as Sahelian, dry and dusty. It was understandable however because the 40 year-old Alau Dam, meant to guarantee water supply to the city, collapsed due to heavy rains in the entire North East region.
Whole city sections were submerged; houses were flooded up to their roofs; tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people were displaced; figures of deaths and injuries were not yet available; critical infrastructure including water stations, hospitals and roads were flooded. Food stores are destroyed; there is no safe drinking water, not to mention power supply.
To compound the tragedy, prisoners reportedly escaped from the city’s prison while the city’s famous game park was flooded and wild animals drowned or escaped. The park’s management warned that crocodiles and snakes might have escaped into inhabited areas with the flood waters. And when the waters eventually recede, the dangers of disease outbreaks are real.
If ever there is a national emergency situation, this is one. For Maiduguri and Borno State, just recovering from the two-decades Boko Haram nightmare, this is more than a double jeopardy. The Federal Government should stand up and help the people get back to their feet. We expect in the hours, days and weeks to come to see the military and emergency workers working to rescue trapped citizens, setting up emergency camps on high ground, evacuating displaced people to those camps, providing the camps with food, sanitary facilities and emergency health clinics.
As Commissioner in charge of reconstruction and rehabilitation in the Kashim Shettima administration and as state governor in the last five years, Babagana Zulum has shown himself to be a master at relief, palliatives, reconstruction and rehabilitation, with the aid of his state and Federal agencies as well as local and international NGOs. Now he needs all the help he can get, from all over the country and across the world, to deal with this calamity.
Afterwards, engineers should identify what must be done to prevent this calamity from happening again. It last happened 30years ago; it must not happen again in another 100 years.
