INTERVIEW: Maiduguri Flood: What we are doing to address most pressing needs of our people ~ Kashim Imam

In the wake of the recent devastating floods in Borno State, Kashim Ibrahim Imam, a businessman, politician, and former board chairman of TETFUND, relocated to his ancestral hometown of Maiduguri to contribute to the efforts to bring soccur to those affected by the disaster.

Mr Imam is running a programme providing 200,000 food packs to displaced persons, targeting 10,000 individuals daily for three weeks. In this interview with our reporter, Yemi Aruna, Mr Imam discusses the impact of the disaster, the collective response from leaders and citizens, and his personal commitment to aiding the recovery of his beloved hometown.

On the devastation

The devastation in Maiduguri has been nothing short of catastrophic. Almost every indigene of Borno is saddened by the devastation that has befallen my home town, Maiduguri. We are saddened by the sheer number of lives lost, which by all accounts is running into ‘hundreds’. Nobody can give you exact figures. Still, and sadly, some bodies are being discovered daily as the water recedes. Thousands of people are homeless, their homes have been destroyed by the floods. Our people were caught unawares. The floods came in the middle of the night. Most people were already in bed and asleep. Nobody saw this coming and nobody was prepared for this. The carnage, the loss of life, and the loss of properties is enormous. Those who were rescued managed to escape with the clothes that they were wearing. And if you go round the metropolis, out of the 15 wards in Maiduguri, only four were not affected. Eleven were badly affected. In some of these wards, more than a week after, people are still trapped; they cannot come out. People are trapped in their homes because in most cases there are no homes to go back to.

On the response

So when we received the news of this, the elders of Borno State resident in Abuja felt concerned and we organised ourselves and we all came back home. We visited the governor. We also visited His Royal Majesty, the Shehu of Borno. The delegation was led by Ambassador Baba Kingibe. Also on the delegation was Architect Ibrahim Bunu, the former minister of the FCT. Ambassador Baba Ahmed Jidda, past Ambassador to China was on the delegation. Senator Abba Aji, and Hajiya Hamra Imam were also on the delegation. Alhaji Babakura Kaigama was also part of the delegation. Baba Shettima Arfo and a host of other prominent sons of Borno were also on that delegation; we came to commiserate with our people, most especially all those who lost loved ones. I also want to say that for about a week I have been home. I relocated my family, my wife, my children, the extended family, everybody’s here.The delegation from Abuja also did not just commiserate and then left back to Abuja. Everybody stayed behind. We heeded the advice of the governor and I think it was a very wise advice that he gave.The tragedy, according to him, the scale of it is beyond the ability of the state government to cope; and he pleaded with all well-meaning citizens of Borno to assist in various ways. So it has been well documented and well reported. Several well-meaning leaders from across Nigeria — state governors, the president himself came. The vice president came, the governors came, prominent leaders of the business community – Alhaji Aminu Dantata was here, His Excellency the former vice president Atiku Abubakar was here, Alhaji Aliko Dangote came and many others. Various sums of money have been contributed.

On the interventions by leaders

In response to the governor’s appeal for immediate assistance, we, the indigenous sons and daughters of Borno, felt that we needed some remedial measures to alleviate the immediate suffering. And then with the appeal of the governor, he felt that what was immediately needed is the most basic of all human needs. And that is just food and water. And we elected to focus on this. I am happy to inform you that we are providing a total of 200,000 food packs. We have already commenced that and I am going to invite the members of the media to do a tour of the town with us immediately after this little briefing so that (we) would distribute these food packs together. We have started with an average of 6000 packs a day. We wish to scale this to 10,000 packs every day. And we are doing this in recognition of the fact that today, the most pressing need of the people of the town is food. if we provide either money or foodstuff, it won’t have the desired impact because most people simply have no homes. They are in different camps. And again across the city it is impossible. Even if we are to provide foodstuff, it is impossible for most families to simply cook. So, in the absence of that, the female, not just female members of this family but both male and female members of my extended family are here. They are here. You’ll be seeing them. I hope you only just say thank you to them. And they have been providing food as a first step. I also want to inform you that the other leaders who came from Abuja have equally made arrangements to provide food – whether it is bread or water – in their various homes. I wish to also confirm and place on record that apart from us, thousands of other well-meaning citizens of this town are similarly assisting those that are in very urgent need. It is very depressing that as we went around in the past three days, everybody was just crying out for food and telling us that they had not eaten for the whole day.

On the rehabilitation process

I envisage that this effort will go on for another two to three weeks, by which time it is my hope and prayers that water will have receded and people will be able to go back to their various homes, and at which stage we are going to change strategy. Instead of distributing food packs, we would be distributing bags of rice that is currently being offloaded in my compound. We have arranged for 7200 bags of various capacities of 50kg bags. The second category is 25kg packs and then the last one is 10kg bags. So we are providing a total of 7200 of those as medium-term interventions. I believe that and I have seen evidence of the fact that the state government is currently also engaged in similar efforts. The governor told us that they will be providing rice and macaroni to most of the families. I think they have a programme of just two weeks that I am told that we will be ending any time soon. So the people will be encouraged to go back to their homes, and we will continue our efforts for another two to three weeks because I believe that it is practically impossible, having seen the scale of the damage, for everybody to go back immediately. So we will continue the efforts for at least another two weeks after which I will hope that they will be home by which time we will also be giving them bags of rice instead of food packs. I commiserate with the families, with everybody who has lost their loved ones. The depth of the carnage is such that nobody is speared. I saw pictures that are trending on social media and I was shocked to see that the homes that I built for my two sons in the GRA of Maiduguri is in the middle of that particular picture. The only thing that is visible is the cap of the roof. The entire building is submerged. What you would see is just the cap of the roof. So this is something that has affected everyone; it is not just a few families. There is no family in Maiduguri that is not affected by this. I pray that God Almighty will comfort all of us. I pray that we will not witness any tragedy on this scale in the future.

On the contributions

The response from across Nigeria has been heartening. Many prominent figures, including state governors, business leaders, and politicians, have come forward to offer assistance. People like Alhaji Aminu Dantata, Atiku Abubakar, and Alhaji Aliko Dangote have made significant contributions. This collective effort is vital in providing the resources and support needed to address the crisis. The solidarity shown by both leaders and ordinary citizens highlights the strength and resilience of our community.

On the impacts

Sadly, it is only after the waters receded first that the total number of lives lost will even be determined. Nobody knows how many people are still under the water. This is the first tragedy that we will be counting our losses. The second one is that businesses, people have practically lost everything. I have so many here with me, also people that you consider leaders in their rights and in their different worlds, managed to escape the flood with the clothes that they are wearing. So this is why now we are looking at medium to long term measures. So, they have lost practically everything. Now the third one is even more devastating and that is the fact that across several communities the flood wreaked havoc. People are calling me from Southern Borno, saying that their rice farms were at the point of harvest when the flood came. What they planted was at the point of harvest and then the floods came and they lost everything. Yes, the collapse of the dam ravaged half of the town but the rains and the floods are causing havoc across several local government areas and is not only limited to Borno. It is gratifying that several well-meaning Nigerians have stepped forward, but as the governor said, we need more hands; the state and the people need much more assistance from all of us, from everybody that has something to give.

Reflections

On a personal level, this experience has been profoundly humbling. I have put all my professional and business commitments on hold to be with our people. It’s rare, I can’t remember when last I spent a week caged in one place without traveling; today in China, tomorrow I’m in Singapore. I traveled all over the world. If I am in the country, there are various activities that require my presence. So I travel literally everyday. I can’t remember when last I stayed in one place for one week and this has necessitated it and we’ve been here. As I said, but I didn’t even come alone. I brought everybody in my family from Abuja. So there are so many others that are making similar efforts and sacrifices to be our brothers’ keepers. I pray that the Almighty will alleviate the sufferings of our people.