When a natural disaster strikes a state as severely as the way the flood is hitting Bauchi State right now, affecting more than twenty communities, the government is expected to do more than just release consolation statements and/or send some bags of maize to the affected communities.
The person in charge must roll up his sleeves and work round the clock to ensure succour is brought to the victims. A concerned leader would declare a “state of emergency” in such a terrible situation involving people’s lives and property, and whose security is the top priority of all governments. Consequently, it must take precedence over all other socio-political concerns.
The state’s response should be comprehensive, covering everything from evacuation to first aid and appropriate medication, to providing temporary housing, relief supplies like food, clothing, and bedding, rebuilding destroyed settlements and farmlands, and resettling people in their original villages and hamlets. Anything less than the aforementioned would be perceived as a failure and an insufficient political commitment on the part of the state government to assist its citizens in their hour of need.
Several rural roads are breaking down because they were constructed without adequate drainage. Additionally, some settlements, houses, shops, farmlands, and other structures were built or sited on waterways, which made them vulnerable and increased their danger of being inundated. Since “all land belongs to the government” according to the law, the government should investigate that and formally relocate such groups to locations that are somewhat safer.
To manage this situation right, the current administration in the state can do better than just writing a press release and delivering some food stuff to the affected villages and leaving the victims to lick their own wounds. For emphasis, this is the 21st century, and people want their resources used for their well-being, not the other way around. With Ramat House’s current opulent lifestyle, it is obvious that the necessary resources are available; if anything is lacking, it must be the political will to deliver.
With the above concatenation, His Excellency should know that as a governor, the well-being of the citizens rests solely on his shoulders as an obligation. There is no escape from that. He must not allow these communities to wallow in their misery. Everybody knows that Bauchi State voters are the most reciprocal in Nigeria. A stitch in time saves nine.
Adamu Bello Mai-Bodi writes from Apapa, Lagos
