Jigawa flood victims lament high cost of food items, other essential commodities
Story from Dahiru SULEIMAN, Dutse
Prices of foodstuffs and other essential commodities have skyrocketed, and filling stations dried off in Birnin-Kudu and Gwaram Local Government Area of Jigawa State due to the flood that cut off the major roads and bridges linking the communities to towns.
Neptune Prime in a telephone conversation with one of the flood-affected victims in Birnin-Kudu, Hamisu Kantoga, learned that life had become unbearable for the people in the LGA due to the harsh conditions caused by the flood.
READ ALSO: Jigawa flood death toll hits 70 as survivors accuse govt of negligence
Kantoga said, “Really, life is miserable with us here in Birnin-Kudu as we’re in a terrible condition, since no road to our town due to flooding which broke down our three major bridges.
“As I am speaking to you now crossing over to Birnin-Kudu is hectic as transport fare has been doubled due to the absence of access roads and fuel supply in most of our filling stations has vanished.
“Presently prices of foodstuffs and essential goods are high, for example, a muddle of rice is selling at N1, 800; a horrible scarcity of petroleum products, among other essential commodities; we are now in the hands of God for his divine mercy on our lives,” he lamented.
Neptune Prime discovered that the flood-ravaged communities in search of solutions to their predicaments embarked on a communal initiative as an alternative to repairing the collapsed bridges, in order to get access roads to the cities.
District Head of Birnin-Kudu in Jigawa, Alhaji Garba Hassan Jibrin, and the Birnin-Kudu Council Chairman, Alhaji Magaji Hassan Jigo, who led the communal initiative, said the idea to embark on the initiative, was informed by the need to search for a solution “as the flood menace has stagnated us. We won’t continue to wait for empty promises from our leaders anymore; instead, we decided to find alternatives for ourselves.”
Three-day intensive labour for the access roads was carried out, which was successful as the access road was formed on one of the collapsed bridges for motorists and pedestrians.
The district head revealed that during the three-day communal initiatives, Birnin-Kudu Council alongside Senator Sabo Mohammed Nakudu and Engineer Da’u Aliyu supported the projects with bags of cement, iron rods, and multiple trucks of sands, among other building materials.
The initiative was successful as the road was fully reactivated and the collapsed bridges along the Birnin-Kudu- Masaya road was fully filled up with sand and cemented.
To test run the repaired road, a truck conveying fuel from Kano State was allowed to cross over the bridge to transport fuel to Birnin-Kudu Council.
Most Jigawa communities have been ravaged by floods recently causing the collapse of five major bridges in Birnin-Kudu, Gwaram, Basurka and Baranda in Dutse Local Council as well as displacing and rendering scores homeless.
The affected victims are worried that their leaders and political appointees have neglected them and showed no concern to ameliorate their hardship.
One of the affected victims of Kiyawa council flooding, Shehu Kiyawa, said: “Since the occurrence of a massive flood about a week ago, no political appointees have visited us to offer assistance or to provide hygienic shelter, leaving us to die of starvation, hunger and diseases.”
Another victim, Umar Zandam, from the Gwaram council, said: “What baffles me is that all the three broken down bridges were on the highways, which connect about six states with a Senator, two members of the House of Representatives, but they care not to extend a single day visitation to us, as if we are foreigners to them.”
Investigations revealed that apart from Kiyawa Council Chairman, Alhaji Nasiru Ahmed, who ordered prompt shelter, foodstuffs, and medication, among other interim support to most victims of the flood menace, members of the state executives and other politicians in the state remained silent in providing succour to the affected flood victims.
Recall that recently the Federal Government of Nigeria through the office of the Minister for Humanitarian and Disaster Management had dispatched different consignments of relief materials worth millions of naira for disbursement but findings revealed that the materials are yet to reach the flood disaster victims for unknown reasons.
