The
travail of Nigerian women living in the rural communities
………tales of disconnected
governance
By Semiye Michael; a rural development reporter
Who says the life is
kind to all? In a world where men feed on each other mercilessly and make boast
of their evil acts of leadership callousness and yet get celebrated amidst absent
minded populace; how friendly can life be to all in the face of massive
injustice and development seeing to be exclusive for target groups in the same
world meant for all? Let us take a simple most unbelievable scenario as case
study;
Abuja was once adjudged
to be one of the fastest growing cities in the world; this no one am sure can
dispute. But it is quite an experience to feel the situation of the communities
that surrounds this beautiful city. Touring the over 800 villages in the suburb
of Abuja city all of which are captured in annual fund allocation for the
development of the Federal Capital Territory, DEAN Initiative came in contact
with life threatening social and infrastructural challenges that left us asking
ourselves if we were actually in FCT.
Over 70% of rural
communities in FCT don’t have access to healthcare facilities, portable water,
good school, motorable road and other basic social needs. The MDG projects are
visible in some communities but most of such projects are either left half
completed or no longer functioning. Some beautiful community health centers are
also built in some villages with no equipment, no water, no power supply and no
personnel. The FADAMA Project seems to be productive in the communities that
are privileged to have them. Few villages have boreholes drilled by FADAMA and
they still work, some have market and few other things handled by FADAMA
Project.
Villagers live purely
on river waters; both to drink and use for other domestic needs. Unfortunately,
the same rivers also serve the cattle rarer and their cattle to drink and wash.
We now have villages where kids die in numbers due to infections contacted from
contaminated river waters. Common malaria in these communities is a killer
issue as they only depend on herbs for treatments of any form of ailment.
Pregnant women are always in high risk even as child delivery is with their
traditional and local procedures. Thousands of children are only used as labour
tools in the farm without a blinking hope of going to school.
These rural villages
are just few kilometers away from us living in the city. Bad access road have
made it tasking visiting these communities, and during the raining season, they
become out rightly cut off from reach as the rivers always overflow bounds and
it becomes high risk sailing through.
DEAN Initiative has
been working with some of these communities and has taken some bold steps in
partnership with our friends who have continued to support us in delivering
some social goods. We are also using this medium to invite you to be part of our
noble efforts.
Leadership in Nigeria seems
to have entirely different meaning. People in leadership positions appear to
have their hearts sold out completely to the devil. They live like kings while
those who voted them into power live like slaves, and this I must confess
amazes me to heavens. I recently led a team to monitor and observe some
community development projects in Niger State, a state that has produced two
past president of the nation with loads
of governors, my heart bleeds to see people living a 10th century
life in the 21st century. How women live and survive in these communities remained better imagined.
Strange of all is the
fact that all political office holders depends on the vote from these rural
villages to win any form of election. These are the people that actually vote
and once voting are done; they are immediately abandoned and forgotten till the
time of another election. The immediate past Governor for Niger State even gave
himself a community friendly title that suggests him to be a different and
people oriented leader. He called himself the “Chief Servant” of the state, but
in the real sense of it, he was far from the meaning of such title. We grow
from within ourselves but hate ourselves so much; I honestly don’t have any
explanation for such inhuman behavior. One would have expected that such states
like Niger state that boast of past national leaders especially with such land
mass and human population of handy size, the issue of inclusive development ought
not to be something to mentioning of the state, but the irony is the case here.
I am only trying to use
Niger state to paint a regular picture of what exist in most of Nigeria rural
communities. In my few years of rural development adventure, I have visited
roughly 30 states in Nigeria and apart from the South/West zone of the country
where one can grade to be somehow rural concern, virtually all other part of
the country most especially the northern part of the country I can openly
declare them to be committing great crime against humanity.
The sad thing again is
when donor agencies like the World Bank and others initiate and make funds
available for projects like the provision of clean water, education, health
centers and many intervention projects; we then have the government liaising
with service providers to frustrate such projects in order to have to loot the
funds. It’s a pity that most of us only enjoy the splendor of our city
environments without taking out time to visit some of the rural places around
us. We should, even if for the fun of it or leisure, let us start creating time
to explore the lifestyle and experiences of those God’s creations living in
these disconnected territories.
Why on earth will
government decide to consistently ignore the development needs of some groups
of people? Why are we going to over decades keep running government system deliberately
marginalizing the common man in rural places? These people feed us, they keep our
green areas healthy, they nurture the earth while we on the other hand destroying
it. They deserve our deliberate support; if I may ask, is it a crime to be a
rural people?
A systemic plan for
continuous development of rural areas is key to any nation’s life. Rural people
aren’t even asking for serious things; just the essential tools of life. The world
today has become more unsafe simply because we have continued to marginalize
groups of people either by denying them their rights or by making them belief
they are worthless. These people grow apart and are now becoming sects in religious
settings and militants in ethnic settings of which we are all still pretending
not to be bothered. The Sambisa forest of today was once a peaceful and
harmless neighborhood containing of people living absolutely disconnected from
all forms of social development. Today, Sambisa forest is a deadly zone that
even armed military personnel won’t enter smiling. Where did we all go wrong? Disconnected
governance is not without its cost and most times, it costs more than people
can afford. Nigeria is paying dearly today but the government sadly isn’t
paying attention to the cases.
What will happen if the
government partners with other development organizations to make rural villages
habitable for people? That alone will reduce pressure on our urban centers and
create economic balance that will support the nation’s GDP. Threats to women survival anywhere is threat to women survival everywhere because #WeAreAllWomen.
Action:
Our organization will
continue to explore all possible windows to engage the government and other non
governmental institutions on how to on a sustainable level solve the problem of
exclusive development.
We are also inviting
more volunteers to join force with us in raising support for rural communities
around us. Become an ambassador for inclusive development. We shall continue to
do what we know how to do.
God bless Nigeria and
change the heart of her leaders for good.
DEAN Initiative was officially registered with the
corporate Affairs Commission (with registration number CAC/IT/NO 75669) as DEAN
More Initiative for African Youth, on February 24, 2015
Tel: 234- 8067616185, 8060791555
Twitter: @DEANinitiative
Facebook: DEANinitiative
YouTube: DEAN
Initiative
I have seen this scenario in Malawi - cattle, sheep and goats drinking the same water as humans and defecating in it as well.
ReplyDeleteWe need more from our leaders
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