How relief items for Suleja flood victims were burgled, sold

Relief materials provided by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in collaboration with the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) for distribution to the recent Suleja flood victims in Niger State allegedly found their way into the wrong hands, with the majority of the victims not receiving any.

Our reporter gathered that following the flood incident on Saturday, July 25, 2020, NEMA, through its zonal headquarters in Minna, started presented building materials, food items, among others, to the victims last Saturday and that the distribution exercise which started harmoniously turned rowdy on Sunday.

Developing sound education in Nigeria

The scariest rise of sexual violence cases in Nigeria

The exercise could not continue on Monday following the interruption, where a youth reportedly broke into the premises of the exercise.

The situation led to a halt of the exercise around 08:00pm.

NEMA and NSEMA attempted to resume the exercise at the Old Secretariat in Suleja on Tuesday, but again it was disrupted by some youths, who were allegedly in sympathy with the person who disrupted the exercise previously who was reportedly mishandled by the security men deployed at the venue.

These disruptions it was gathered led to many of the flood survivors not to get the assistance.

Many victims who spoke with Daily Trust at the venue of the exercise on Wednesday lamented that they did not get the items despite being present at the venue when the exercise started, alleging that most of the materials were given out to people from outside the affected communities, and that in some cases the items were sold out to businessmen.

A victim, Mrs. Rabiatu Abdulaziz, insisted to be given what she said she deserved, having lost her household items to the flood.

She told Daily Trust that she was at the venue of the donation since the day it was started and kept returning there up to Wednesday, but that she was not attended to.

Another woman, Amina Abdulaziz, said donations were given out to people not known to them in the area where they lived, with some of the beneficiaries allegedly offering N1,000 per bag of cement and N1,500 for a school-size matress.

Mrs. Abdulaziz who explained that they kept coming to the venue for three days, said on returning to the venue on Wednesday they were told by NEMA officials that all the remaining items were burgled in the night and that nothing was left to be shared.

Another woman, Lateefat Hussaini, said her husband could not make it to the venue and that she could not struggle with men in picking the items which were thrown at them.

Malam Muhammad Sani, a security guard at the venue, said two trucks of Dangote conveying cement were unloaded inside the facility along with another trailer loaded with roofing zinc ahead of the exercise.

Malam Sani said other vehicles brought food items comprising rice, corn, mattresses and blankets.

He explained that, “To be frank with you, this is the biggest donation I have ever witnessed in my carrier as a security guard here, but the way I saw the situation from the first day, I told the policemen who were deployed to provide security for the exercise that I would vacate the venue until when their assignment there was over.”

He lamented that, “Now look at how the items were carted away through there,” pointing towards a wall close to the store where the bags of cement were stored.

Our reporter who went to Rafin-Sanyi, one of the worst affected communities, discovered that most of the houses had been deserted.

A headmaster, who craved anonymity, said her school lost parts of its buildings in which materials and documents were destroyed and that she represented the school proprietor in receiving sympathisers to the school where her data were captured, explaining that, “I was anticipating to get a call once the donation was ready on behalf of the school.

“After the items were finally made available, I waited, but when I got no call, I decided to leave my school to the relief centre this morning despite activities before us over our JSS3 students ahead of their exams. On my way to the venue, I was shocked when I was alerted that people from our community were leaving the venue in droves, having been told that the items had been burgled.

Another victim, Nuruddin Muhammad, who said he lost his fence and other household items to the flood, explained that five teams of sympathisers met him after the flood; with some of them capturing his data.

Muhammad said the visits made him to believe that he would get the donation once it was provided, “But I was disappointed and shocked on getting to the venue of the distribution last Saturday as all the beneficiaries were heading towards Suleja Metropolis instead of its outskirts where we live that were hit by the flood.”

Mrs. Patience Okafor, a landlady in one of the affected areas, said nine rooms were affected by the flood inside her compound where she lived with the tenants and that all the items in the affected rooms got damaged.

However, unlike other victims of the flood, Mrs. Okafor said their ward head met them last Saturday and asked those of them that had their names in the lists to go to the venue of the distribution.

She explained that, “I went there around 12:00pm as we were told that the distribution would start at 12:30pm. In each batch, 10 people were called in. I got two bundles of roofing zinc, three bags of cement, half packet of roofing nails, two blankets, two school mattresses and two mosquito nets. I also got small bags of rice, beans, corn and two sachets of Maggi. Our tenants did not get anything as only landlords were captured.”

She added that a number of residents who trooped to the venue on Monday and Tuesday did not get the items as the exercise was disrupted by some youths.

A man who lost four children and a pregnant wife to the flood, Mr. Igbomara Thank-God Ebubidike, said his attention was called by a friend on Sunday about the exercise.

Mr. Ebudike said, “I immediately left for the venue, and on getting there, they attended to me immediately due to my special case.”

He said he was given 10 bundles of roofing zinc, 10 bags of cement, 10 pieces of ceiling sheets, five packets of nail, five 5kg bags of rice, two 10 kg bags of beans and two small bags of corn.

Mr. Ebudike who noted that though he was happy with the gesture, said he did not know what to do with the building materials as he was yet to be assisted with land replacement as he had anticipated, explaining that they were informed that a demolition exercise would soon take place in the area.

The Suleja Zonal Coordinator of NSEMA, Malam Abdullahi Idris, confirmed the incidents of the youths’ interruptions that ended the exercise abruptly, but denied the allegation of money exchanging hands between NSEMA officials and businessmen or illegal receivers.

Malam Idris said he narrowly escaped one of the attacks as he was aimed at with a knife by one of the thugs who overwhelmed the venue of the event on Tuesday afternoon and later carted the remaining items in the night.