Nigerians forced to flee Boko Haram now face another risk — starvation

After being forced to flee their homes, witnessing brutal violence and the destruction of their communities, many in northeastern Nigeria are now facing another pressing risk — severe malnutrition and even starvation.

It's estimated that some 2.6 million people have been made homeless by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, as they waged their seven-year long insurgency. People forced to flee headed in whichever direction was safe at the time.  

Some two million have fled internally within Nigeria, moving to bigger cities in the northeast such as Maiduguri in Borno state or Yola in Adamawa state. Some fled south, or across borders into neighbouring countries.

Most crammed in with family, friends or distant relatives. 

About 10 per cent, including the many unaccompanied children who saw their families slaughtered, have sought refuge in official and unofficial camps for the internally displaced.

Warnings have coming for months, with one aid agency after another expressing concern about the scale of this crisis and looming famine. 

Millions of people in Nigeria need food assistance, the UN says. In Borno state alone, more than 240,000 children under the age of five are facing severe acute malnutrition.

For 65,000 people in the hard-hit north the risk is even greater — famine-like conditions and the risk of death.

Need 'will only increase'

Ghilda Chrabieh, director of humanitarian programs for Mercy Corps in Nigeria, says the situation could be particularly dire in places yet unreachable due to ongoing fighting and insecurity.

"We are projecting that the numbers of people in need will only increase as we start to access those areas."

President Muhammadu Buhari — who didn't mention the looming famine his country faces in a recent speech for Nigeria's Independence Day celebrations —  recently spoke about the scope of the problem that comes with such a massive displacement of people, including many women and children.

"It is weighing heavily on government," Buhari said in a statement, noting that many of the children displaced by conflict and crises don't know their parents or where they come from.

The statement came after a meeting with Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Maurer has described the situation in Nigeria and neighbouring Niger as "a forgotten crisis."

Speaking in an ICRC video released via social media, he said this is "despite the fact that it is one of the largest ICRC operations in the world," adding that "people outside of Niger, outside of the Lake Chad region do not really offer the attention which this conflict deserves."

'Catastrophic' situation for many

The Mercy Corps director says organizations know that "people will need life-saving aid," with food and medical care to deal with malnutrition as a first priority.

"Based on the conditions we've seen as we've gained access, and based on many reports from agencies in locations like Bama, Banki, Konduga and Monguno, we know the situation is catastrophic," Chrabieh says.

Mercy Corps has been working in the town of Damboa, which was repeatedly hit by Boko Haram attacks. In 2014, there were reports that 95 per cent of the town had been destroyed, with burnt bodies left littering the charred remains of the marketplace.

The U.S.-based charity said 97 per cent of people they interviewed in Damboa reported that they were unable to afford to buy any food for the past four weeks.

The Nigerian government continues to tell people who fled the violence that they should return home to liberated towns and villages and rebuild their lives, but Boko Haram is still active in some areas and a feeling of insecurity has kept many away.

And so, hundreds of thousands of displaced people continue to lean on host families, or pour into makeshift camps for the displaced — and resources are being stretched to their limits.  

Basic services such as health care, clean water and sanitation are already poor and there are concerns about the spread of disease.  

Nigeria had gone two years without any reported polio cases but three have now been confirmed in Borno state and with poor drainage and stagnant water during rainy season deaths from malaria and cholera have risen.

This crisis though is not just affecting northeast Nigeria.  Across the borders into Chad, Niger and Cameroon the same scenarios of hunger are being witnessed.

Some aid agencies like UNICEF have already warned that this crisis is now too big for one single government or charity to deal with alone.  

As the country director of Mercy Corps Iveta Ouvry said: "This is not a crisis that will be solved with one silver-bullet solution … Put simply, the world cannot afford to wait another moment to take action."

SOURCE:cbc.ca

Federal government frustrated my efforts to free Chibok girls trice – Boko Haram close pal, Salkida

Freelance journalist, Ahmad Salkida, has revealed that several attempts made by him to free the abducted Chibok girls from captivity had been frustrated by the federal government.

Salkida, who is believed to have direct links to Boko Haram terrorists, said he met the girls and their captors at the instance of the federal government.

In an email to Daily Trust on Sunday, Salkida faulted the narratives of the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and President Muhammadu Buhari’s biographer,Professor John Paden, on why the rescue of the Chibok girls is yet to be actualised.

“At least, today, I am probably the only one who has gone to location of swaps with detainees and I set my eyes on the girls in their early days in captivity, under a presidential cover to negotiate,” he said.

Salkida, who had been in the United Arab Emirates on self-exile since 2013, recently returned to Nigeria after he, with two others were declared wanted by the Nigerian Army for having “links” with the Boko Haram and not divulging certain information.

Salkida said it was not true that the leadership of Boko Haram demanded 5 billion Euros (roughly N1.7 trillion) as ransom for the release of the abducted girls as stated by Paden in his book “Muhammadu Buhari: The challenge of leadership in Nigeria”.

According to him, “I’m not sure I understand why our leaders choose to declassify important aspects of this negotiation when the girls are still in captivity, but I can categorically say that the claim of a demand of 5 billion Euros as published by President Buhari’s biographer is not the truth.

“While it is true that the captors of the Chibok girls have shifted the goal post several times when a swap deal was near, we must ask ourselves, what was responsible for the volatility that has denied the rest of the surviving Chibok girls and other captives’ freedom?

“How did I know this and write with such audacity? I was the only negotiator that was flown to Maiduguri with some detainees in an Air Force plane and I stayed in the Maimalari military barracks for over three weeks with the detainees, trying to reach a deal.

“From my professional experience with both parties namely government authorities and the insurgents, I can state that these abducted girls would long have returned home if political and security officials in government had shown better understanding of what is at play.

“Never, even from the days of former President Goodluck Jonathan to today’s dispensation has government accepted a window of say two, three weeks and abided by it. So, we are dealing with insurgents who do not recognize your bureaucratic heritage and continue to shut out the windows each time the indicated timelines elapsed, and also dealing with political and security authorities that never considered it expedient to do their housekeeping ahead of acceptance of negotiation windows that are tied to timelines.

“There is no point to delve into much detail at this point, but suffice it to state that both sides have their share of blame. My experience is that both the Buhari led government and the preceding Jonathan administration desired a negotiated end to this imbroglio but none ever showed any hunger in tracking the footprints and understanding the tendencies of the enemy.

“I was not only involved in one or two attempts to free the Chibok girls with the current government, but on three separate occasions and even as recently as May/June, 2016, few months before I was declared wanted for allegedly refusing to cooperate with the same government and for having “links to terrorism” by the Nigerian Army,” Salkida said.

SOURCE: Dailypostng

How Boko Haram forced me to watch my son beheaded – displaced Baga resident

Over a year ago when Boko Haram insurgents swept through the fishing community of Baga in northern Borno State, horrified residents had limited options. The militants attacked and killed many, locals and security operatives alike.

Men, women and children who managed to flee, arrived camps for internally displaced persons with grisly tales of what they saw either during the attack, or while on the run.

One woman, Jummai Ibrahim, who braved all odds to stay alive, told PREMIUM TIMES chilling details of how she lost everything, including a 21-year-old son, and how Boko Haram insurgents forced her to watch him decapitated.

Back in Baga, Jummai and many other women that fled, lived fairly well, with good earnings from a booming fish trade near the Lake Chad. The 58-year-old was famous as a big time merchant, she said.

Now, seated at the Maiduguri IDP camp where she has lived for months, Jummai’s appearance tells nothing of that well-to-do past.

“All my life fishing is what I do,” said Jummai with some degree of pride. “It was fishing that took me and my husband to Baga and even into some parts of Chad in the past 40 years.”

She said they made money daily from fishing and food crops.

“Without being ungrateful to God, I will say we have made great fortune from our fishing business mostly on the Lake Chad waters,” she narrated. “But unfortunately, Boko Haram came in to dislodge our peace and caused us serious loss of our properties, and money.”

On the day Boko Haram insurgents struck in January 2015, Jummai said their last consignment of fish for day had been loaded to a truck at about 6 am, ready for delivery to the markets.

The cargo was not much that day at about N700, 000, she said.

When gunfire ran out, the town laid in ruin and residents like Jummai fled leaving all they toiled for.

“After loading the truck, we had to leave it in the park overnight for it to be transported the next morning. We later lost everything because everyone had to run for their dear lives when Boko Haram came in large numbers shooting their ways into every household and killing everyone they came across. All our food stuff stored in our silos were also left behind,” she narrated.

“We suffered a great deal fleeing to safety. Now that we have arrived the IDP camp in Maiduguri, we came to meet a life we never envisaged at all. It was a setback to many of us women who were once masters of their own in terms of financial resources; because back there in Doro-Baga, we do our business and make enough money to take good care of ourselves and our needs.

“It is ironical to see me here today begging to feed when I could make over N3 million in a single net-drag of fishes; the least we make in the sales of fishes could be around N500, 000. We do not know any other business except fishing and farming; and here we have nothing to do other than sitting down every day and waiting for handouts from government,” she said.

Jummai, a mother of seven children, who are mostly adults, said Boko Haram gunmen did not only invade their community, but went after them as they fled into the bushes. Many, according to her were killed in the bush and many, especially young women, were abducted by the assailants.

“I left all my belongings back in Doro-Baga when fleeing the attack by Boko Haram. I came with only the clothes I had on me,” she said. “We ran all day together with some of my children. When we got to a village called Kalwaram, I saw many people killed, and at the outskirts of the village I saw fresh corpses of two soldiers; one of the soldiers was stripped naked, his manhood was cut off his groin and forced into his mouth. I could not stand the sight of such horror, but I had to untie my wrapper and cover his body up to, at least, protect his dignity. I kept on running with only my underskirt and the blouse I had on me, until I got to a village called Minnati, where a woman saw me and out of sympathy gave me a wrapper to wear over my underskirt. That was how I got to the camp in Maiduguri, all on foot,” Jummai narrated.

Jummai said their journey out of Baga began on a bloody note as they ran into the insurgents on the outskirts of the town.

“I lost many of my relatives while fleeing from Baga. Immediately we made it to the outskirts of Baga, Boko Haram gunmen intercepted us and took away one of my daughters who was two months pregnant and her three-year-old son and 13 other ladies who were either my cousins or my husband’s younger ones that were living with us.

“One of my sons, Habibu, who was about 21 years old was killed by Boko Haram. When they saw him with me, one of the Boko Haram gunmen told me that ‘Mama this your son is old enough to join the Civilian-JTF, so he is assumed to be a potential member of the Civilian-JTF’. For that reason they dragged him to the ground in my presence and slit his throat. They wanted to force me to hold his legs while they were cutting off his neck, and I told them I could not do such thing. I attempted to close my eyes because I could not stand to see how they were killing my own son like an animal, but one of them hit me with the butt of their gun on my arm, and insisted that I must watch them as they killed my son.

“I watched him cry and calling on me to help him, when I cried out that I could not help him, then he kept on screaming that ‘mama pray for me, and forgive me if I ever offended you, pray for me’…(sobs)…that was how my child was slaughtered and beheaded,” Jummai narrated, weeping. “I have seen pains and torture from Baga to Maiduguri.”

Life in Maiduguri

Life at the IDP camp has been another tortuous phase for Jummai. She complains about how she and her surviving family now struggle to eat and get basic needs as clothing.

“Now I am left with nothing except rags,” she said, struggling a wry smile, but apparently fighting back tears.
“Last year, Borno State government came to share clothes for us and that was what we have been using since then. As you can see now, the clothes have turned to rags because of everyday use. Look at my body, look at our skins, we lack soaps to bathe and even the cheapest cream to oil our body. We do not even have washing bar to wash our clothes. It is so pathetic.

“It is even more pathetic now that I have over 20 children including some of my own that were able to make it on their own to this camp and those of neighbours that have been killed, all living with me in the same apartment here in the camp. Food that was recently distributed by the Borno state governor during this Ramadan did not get to us in our own house. We have to depend on one or two measures of rice that some good relatives brought to us.

“Just imagine the irony of life…(sobs)… me a woman of means in Baga, whom people do come to meet for help; even when the local government council was in difficulties, they do come to me for assistance which I did render without blinking an eyelid. I was a very independent woman financially. I was very famous and prominent in my community; none of our Lawans (District Head) and Bulamas (village heads) would say they don’t know me.”

On whether she would want to return to Baga to pick the pieces of their lives, Jummai said such an opportunity would be like “being offered free pilgrimage to the holy land”.

“But looking at what I passed through to get to safety here, I would rather wait here with my children until when the soldiers declare that there is no more Boko Haram,” she added cautiously.

Her immediate concern now is having an improved living condition in the camps where food and clothing will not be an issue.

“I am calling on government both at the federal and state level to come to our aid; especially in the area of feeding in the camps; of course the SEMA and NEMA normally provide food which are cooked by committee members and shared in the camp. But, sadly, most of the food cooked are not prepared in the best way that it could be consumed. That is why you see many people would rather dry the food in the sun and go out to sell them to get small amount they could use to buy something to eat. No one can eat the food here because it was poorly cooked.

“What we want is for the state government to come to the camp and give us the uncooked rice and corn flour so that we can cook them on our own, just like it did during this Ramadan. Allowing us to cook our food is better than some people coming to cook in the camp kitchen and at the end no one can eat what they prepare for us.

“I have seven children, one was killed; some that were captured by Boko Haram were able to reunite with us after soldiers rescued them. But most of them, especially the males have to leave the camp to go into the world to fend for themselves. One of my daughters who has 4 children has not seen her husband for a very long time now.”

SOURCE: Premiumtimesng

800 HOUSES TO GO FOR LAGOS FOURTH MAINLAND BRIDGE

The Lagos State Government disclosed that 2,200 houses will be saved from demolition with the new alignment designed for the construction of the proposed 4th Mainland Bridge.

Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Ganiyu Johnson said, the old alignment for the bridge was to claim over 3,000 houses which would mean huge economic losses to the economy.

He said with the new design, about 800 houses will now be affected, adding that the affected owners would be compensated by the government.

He explained that the when constructed would drastically reduce traffic volume on Eko, Cater and Third Mainland Bridges.

According to him, “The proposed bridge will traverse from Ajah to North West direction towards the lagoon shoreline to Lagos-Ibadan Expressway via Ikorodu. The approximate length of the road/bridge is 37.9km with a design speed of 140km/h.

“Lagos State Government has held discussions with a consortium of consultants in furtherance of the project,” said the commissioner.

He further explained that the significance and value of the project, saying “this lies in its capacity to rapidly decongest the traffic gridlock within the Lekki corridor and redistribute traffic towards Lagos Mainland which serves to meet increased future road infrastructure demands.”

He attributed the delay on the ongoing work at Badagry express way to paucity of funds, adding that Julius Berger, the construction firm handling the Lot I between Eric Moore to Mile 2, will finish the median lanes and hand over by August this year while CCECC to which the Lot II as awarded will continue construction in phases towards Agbara.

He added that the state government initiated a study to upgrade the network of roads in Ikeja to improve and boost the economic stature of the seat of government to word-class standard commensurate with other capital cities and also to reduce to the barest minimum, traffic gridlock along the corridor.

“This will involve the expansion of Awolowo Way with an elevated highway from the Airport Hotel to Alausa to decongest the traffic gridlock along Allen Round-about, Kudirat Abiola Round-about and Agidingbi Round-about. There will also be an expansion of the Allen/Opebi Road to Odo Iya-Alaro via a link bridge at Ogudu to the 3rd Mainland Bridge.

These networks of roads when upgraded will boost the economic activities in Ikeja being the seat of government,” the commissioner said.

SOURCE: copied