Sokoto community: Before another flood nightmare

Fifty three year-old Malam Lawali wavers and is downcast for a moment as haunting memories of recurring floods glide through his mind.

Year after year, inhabitants of Mabera Iddi in Sokoto South Local Government Area are forced to endure wet seasons filled with adversity as water inundates the area.

Many residents say they have to forgo sleep, keep their children off school, contend with increased health challenges and disrupted economic activities. 

Traders lamented they incurred several losses because of the difficulties of movement during the period.

It is apparent from plaintive expressions of Mabera residents that they are quite despondent about the flood menace.

The densely populated locality of about 1.5 million inhabitants is also boycotted by commercial transporters during the period thereby leaving inhabitants to trek long distances to get essential commodities.

Lawali, a trader, has been a resident of Mabera for 22 years. He said, “I will never forget when water flooded my entire house; destroying vital documents, as well as sacks of varieties of grains I had in stock. I just woke up in the middle of the night to realise we were in water.

“This flood has caused my family a lot of problems considering that a pool of water is always by my doorstep at such times. When flood occurs, and mass water blocks the entire surrounding, my little children are kept indoors to save them from drowning,” he complained.

He said the floods usually had adverse effect on his firewood business. 

“During rainy season, I can’t sell,” he groused.

For 35 year-old mother of three, Malama Zainab, the situation is particularly challenging in emergency and desperate situations. 

“No matter how much we try, we find it very difficult to get transport because motorcycles, tricycles and cabs don’t ply the area during the rainy season. They keep away from the area no matter the amount of money promised them,” she said.

She also notes: “Flood knows no slumber, so we keep vigil; we have to stay alert at nights as it comes at any time. We have sleepless nights removing water from our apartments.”

Fourty year-old Hajara Abubakar will not speak much on the issue. With a cold expression on her face, she simply says: “In the 16 years I have spent in this area, we suffered a great deal from the menace of flood after every rain.”

Shop owner, Alhaji Mustapha Bello, who has spent two decades in the area, said recurring flood menace had been causing Mabera residents untold hardship every rainy season.

“My business suffers low patronage. The moment there is flood, movement is hampered; the business is seriously affected and with bulk of water that flood virtually everywhere, most shops, owners don’t open for sale.”

Madam Okafor has been living in Mabera for about eight years. She emphasised that the flood problem was the key problem bedevilling them: “Just because of the rain, many people have left this area, it is our prayer that the government would come to our rescue.”

Madam Okafor recalled a flood event two years ago when a lorry that conveys firewood to the area got stuck in front of her house and caused terrible obstruction for more than four days.

Her concern echoes a general plight: “I have a car, but I can’t use it during rainy season, we can’t go out when we want, and it impinges on our socio-economic activities.”

Some residents attested they had to spend out of their lean resources to purchase tipper loads of gravel to build embankments to reduce the effect of the flood on their houses. 

To lessen the problem, residents have also made holes at strategic points, but they stress that the flood debacle was far from over until the construction of good roads and drainage system.

Heavy rain and stagnant water are noted to enhance breeding sites for mosquitoes which cause malaria. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) warns that malaria is a life-threatening disease and that it remains a major killer of children under five years.

At the Mabera Healthcare centre, Daily Trust learned that at the peak of the rainy season, the centre usually received overwhelming number of malaria patients.

Statistics on malaria patients at the centre indicates rise in the total number of cases over the months; from 290 cases in May, June 615, July 940 to 1038 in August.

Commenting, the Community Health Officer in charge of the centre, Rilwanu Sani, confirms rampant cases of malaria during such period.

He avers that grasses and refuse dumped at various places in the community contribute significantly to the situation.

Sani, however, lauded the state government for making malaria drugs available at the centre.

Some at the hospital appealed to the state government to hasten the distribution of the mosquito nets promised to the people.

The challenge of waste disposal compounds the nightmare of Mabera residents who lament that they lacked designated refuse bunkers in the area.

Piqued by the situation, a concerned resident of the area was noted to have hired private vehicles to evacuate the refuse when it accumulated to a certain level.

The Sarkin Rafin Mabera, Iddi Alhaji Umaru Sidi, urged the provision of refuse bunkers to maintain cleanliness and curb outbreak of diseases.

As many inhabitants of the area admit that they did not allow their children to go to school when they experience flood, Daily Trust spoke with some school authorities in the area who confirmed the poor attendance in schools during such period.

Headmistress of Tafida Aminu Primary School, Mabera, Hajiya Umaima Bello Haidara, revealed that only about one third of the 2,335 pupils attend school when there is rain.

 She observed that the teachers were also affected as they ended up reporting late due to problem of accessibility of the area during the wet season.

“Every year, we record parents of not fewer than 10 children who ask for transfer certificate because they are leaving the area,” she stated.

Daily Trust gathered that demands by some parents for permission for their children to travel were usually more regular during the period.

The land surface in the area is practically covered by buildings and roads with no farmlands. Some have attributed the perennial flood problem to effect of urbanisation and improper infrastructural design and planning.

“Mabera’s problem is due to poor planning; the residents build houses on waterways hence frequent flooding of the area. There was no much flood before until many houses were constructed in the area. So when it rains, water accumulates, and we wade through, we are helpless,” stated a civil servant who pleaded anonymity.

A traditional leader in the area, Mal Bello Abubakar Ubandwakin Mabera Gidan Jariri, recollects: “The flood issue has been there all along, but development has compounded the problem. Before, there were minimal structures and water takes its course and drains away; but now, it’s flood all over.”

Except government takes drastic action to save us from the continuous flood nightmare, it will continue, a teacher, Malam Sadeeq Abubakar, stressed. He recalls that, “There was a year when water flooded the entire rooms and courtyard of our family house. Neighbours and good Samaritans had to come to our rescue by using buckets and other items to remove water from the house. It was nightmare, we can never forget this, and it can still occur unless necessary action is taken.”

In August, the Sokoto State Government announced the approval of N1.2bn for the construction of a link road to Mabera, acknowledging its necessity in view of the difficulty in accessing the area during the raining season.

“The roads, if completed, will bring succour to the people living in the areas who for long have been suffering due to bad roads,” The Commissioner for Land and Housing, Alhaji Bello Gwiwa, who disclosed the state executive council’s decision, explained.

Mabera residents said since the announcement nothing had been heard on the proposed project.

With his face assuming an anxious expression, one of the residents, Aliyu, stated: “We are eager to see the actualisation of the road projects and the implementation of drainage systems towards sustainable flood management. Since the previous administration of Governor Wamakko when some houses were marked for demolition to give way for road construction, the state government promised to effect the road construction but up till today we are waiting, he said.