Disaster Hits Hausa Community in Jos

DISASTER HITS HAUSA COMMUNITY IN JOS

Just as the problem of the Fulani IDPs was subsiding, a flood yesterday hit the Hausa communities of Rikos, Gangare and all other communities of Jos along the Dilimi river. Dozens of lives are drowned; about thirty have been recovered so far and laid at the Central Mosque. Some bodies may only be recovered hundreds of miles down the river in Bauchi State as is usually the case.

One of the leaders of the Hausa community in Jos told me how hundreds of stranded families now live in the open without any shelter or provision, in addition to the loss of their beloved ones. As I left the city some minutes ago I started to think of how aid can reach them quickly.

So far there has not been any response from the state government. It will take a day or two or even more before relief would start reaching the victims from relief agencies. NEMA will certainly channel its aid through the Plateau State State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA). Experience of communities in the state, particularly Hausa and Fulani communities, teaches that relief from SEMA often comes staled, if it comes at all, as it rarely does. The experience of Jos IDPs in 2008 crisis is still fresh in our minds. It is a painful truth that has to be told.

An official of the Nigerian Red Cross told me in the morning that they are in the field assessing the disaster. Their help will definitely come earliest by tomorrow afternoon due to paper work.

We have some NCFR relief for the Fulani IDPs remaining in the Nigerian Red Cross office in Jos. I will, in consultation with other stakeholders, see if it is possible to deliver them to the communities affected in Jos, once there is anything in the remainder that would be of use to them immediately.

The Jasawa leaders decided that in the same manner we handled the Fulani IDP relief fund, we should do the same to the Hausa community. They agreed for the purpose of urgency to use my Zenith Bank Account – to prevent confusing it with the Fulani IDPs donations in GTB – and a text message be sent to the Barrister Sani Mudi containing the name of the donor and the amount he donated. The details of the account and the GSM number are as follows:

Zenith Bank Plc, Bauchi Branch. Aliyu U. Tilde. 1001030092.

The GSM number of Sani Mudi to whom the name of the donor and the amount donated would be sent is 08033494509.

The donations will be handled in the same way we handled the Fulani IDPs donations. We will publish online the names of donors and the amounts they donated as well as what the donations were used for, including quantities and rates of items purchased and any incidental cost incurred. As the Red Cross does it, relief will only be delivered to the beneficiaries directly, not their representatives or leaders or kept in a store, I promise

"Whatever good you do, God is aware of it."

Thank you.

Aliyu U. Tilde

Jos

23 July 2012