Steps President Tinubu Could Take To Bring Relief To Borno State Immediately.
First of all, my condolences to the government and people of Borno State over the devastating and unprecedented floods that have devastated the state and led to the loss of lives and property. May God bring succour to the state.
Because of the sheer scale of the disaster, President Tinubu should consider declaring a national emergency. This will provide the legal framework to appropriate funds to resolve the emergency without requiring a lengthy legislative process.
It will also trigger the United Nations and the international community to donate cash, food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies to the victims.
And because of the number of people who died and the scale of infrastructural damage, the President ought to have ordered the Nigerian Army Corp of Engineers to mobilise there and start salvaging dams and levees, as well as rebuilding damaged infrastructure.
Simultaneously, the medical corps of all three service arms (Army, Navy and Air Force) ought to be deployed in Borno by now to provide life-saving medical assistance to the affected communities.
We recently saw a similar scenario in Sokoto, where the service chiefs were literally on the ground to coordinate the routing of bandits. In terms of scale, what is happening right now in Borno and environs, is more urgent and widespread than what occurred in Sokoto. Let us not give the impression that Sokoto is important, but Borno is not.
Just as Sokoto is the seat of the Caliphate, so is Borno the seat of the Kanem-Borno empire, one of the oldest monarchies in Africa. The Tinubu government should not underestimate the type of undercurrents these things can cause.
We should be seeing military helicopters hovering over these flooded areas, with trained personnel rescuing Borno residents via ropes and ladders hanging from these aircraft.
It would have been a poignantly powerful image with the capacity to stir national pride and unleash patriotism across Nigeria. And it would be good PR if it had been beamed on global TV networks.
Then, the President may consider setting up a Borno Disaster Management Committee to be peopled and led by the private sector. Following that, he could host a charity candlelight event at the Presidential Villa, where Corporate Nigeria and the IOCs would be invited and encouraged to donate funds to the Borno Disaster Management Committee for direct intervention to provide relief for the affected communities and rebuild damaged infrastructure.
Philanthropists like Dr. Mike Adenuga, Femi Otedola, General TY Danjuma, Aliko Dangote, Folorunsho Alakija, and Chief Arthur Eze, should be encouraged to attend.
We need to see what the National Emergency Management Agency is doing. Perhaps they are already doing something. But why are there no visuals? This is not good for both NEMA and the Tinubu administration. Visuals are important. Especially when the disaster is in the North, and the President is from the South. This is Nigeria, after all!
Finally, President Tinubu should consider going to Borno himself, even though he mandated that the vice president visit. His physical presence there will go a long way.
It will convince the people of the state that they are of the highest value to the government and that the President cares about them. That alone would give them some relief.
Of course, none of the above suggestions would solve every issue arising from this flooding. However, it will go a long way, especially if done speedily and empathetically.
Reno Omokri .
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