Curfew: Kaduna Residents Struggle For Survival

The scars left behind by the June 3, 2012 bombings of three churches in Kaduna State and the reprisals that followed, are still visible. While the residents of the state try to bear with the gloom and monumental loss occasioned by the attacks, they have been exposed to a more worrisome problem-being able to grapple with the challenges of staggered curfew that has made life almost unbearable to many in the state and its environs. The evil men, who detonated the three deadly bombs in Kaduna and Zaria churches that Sunday morning, might not have imagined the spate of horror and subsequent unpleasant developments that have attended their dastardly act.

As it now stands, they are dead and gone with the winds of destruction that followed their lethal assault on the places of worship.

One of the consequences of the blast is that scars of destruction now dot the three places where the bomb went off while agony now pervades the air. From the evil hatched by a few or handful of Boko Haram members to decimate the three churches and their members, the whole state is now bearing the brunt of what they did not bargain for.

While the intention of the bombers might have been solely to wipe out the churches and their members, little did they know that their actions could trigger a devastating response from the authorities with far-reaching consequences. They have been hit below the belt.

The 24-hour curfew imposed on the state in the wake of the attacks, have kept everyone at home, and heightening the potential of hunger and starvation in the agrarian state. Two weeks after the attacks and the imposition of the curfew, basic foodstuffs have dried up. Money has equally fizzled thereby making it almost impossible for the residents to buy and sell.

Indeed, what started as a joke, when the state governor, Patrick Yakowa, announced the slamming of the restriction of movement that Sunday evening, has now blossomed into a nemesis that has caught up with everyone-men, women and children.

In Kawo and Unguwan Dosa areas, inhabitants are still experiencing acute scarcity of kerosene and bread, as local bakeries in the area could not operate because of the sit-at-home order.

A similar situation is playing out in Barnawa, Nasarawa, Television, Kakuri, Sabon-Tasha, Narayi, Kudenda, Gonin-Gora areas of the state, where the natives engage in desperate moves to make ends meet.

Those who have some money to pay for goods and services cannot get the goods while those who even have money in the bank cannot have access to such places in order to withdraw either directly or via the Automated Teller Machine, ATM. In fact, the struggle for survival has since reached the peak in the affected areas of the Kaduna State.

As the search for basic food stuffs intensifies, many have ingeniously and temporarily abandoned their trades and taken to the sales of food items just to make quick gains.

A footwear dealer, Mrs. Hannatu Abu, is one of those cashing in on the desperate food market that has developed in the state. Abu now sells fish in cartons due to the high demand for the commodity.

The scarcity of food has triggered a higher demand and increase in cost. For instance, a bag of garri that was sole for N5000 before the crisis, now goes for N8000 and is not readily available.

Madam Tund Abui, a regular seller of the item, said that she now sells at least 40 bags of garri per day as compared to the few that she used to dispense with before now.

The price of yam, a staple food in the state has also gone up by 100 percent. A heap of five tubers, which hitherto was sold for N250, now goes for N500.

Madam Monica Adu told LEADERSHI WEEKEND that the sharp increase in the price was due to the difficulties in getting the foodstuff.

“There has been no supply of the foodstuff due to the curfew. We are only selling the little we saved before the crisis. We go through a lot of difficulties before being able to secure what we are selling to the public. We are praying that the situation will improve to enable us to reduce the prices.”

Another trader told LEADERSHIP WEEKEND attempt to get more stock at the famous Tuesday market in Kawo did not yield any positive result as no single bag of garri was available in the market to buy.

The Trader, Abdulkareem, said he went to the Talata weekly market to buy foodstuffs when the government relaxed the curfew on Tuesday but did not find the traders who are mostly from the South East and South West zones. He said the few bags of food items in the market were immediately mopped up by government functionaries for the feeding of the victims of the violence displaced from their homes.

However, Mercy James, who sells provisions at the Central Market Kaduna, admitted that following the relaxation of the curfew business had begun to pick up gradually but did not know when the situation would normalise.

“Everyone is under tension and we are really worried,” Mercy confessed.

“There is still fear on the people’s mind because customers come and hurriedly buy what they can afford and disappear so as not to be caught by the curfew.”

“We are languishing in this market because there has been a steady decline in business since the bomb blasts and the imposition of curfew by the government,” she said.

A vegetable dealer, Jummai John, lamented that lack of money had forced most of her customers to shun her. We are dying. Please tell the government to relax the curfew before we die in droves,” she pleaded.

Malam Isiaka, a butcher at the Television Market, lamented that the violence had heightened hunger and poverty in the state, as they no longer get customers for the little supply they put on sales.

He said, “We used to have patronage from people around town, but now people are even scared of coming out or visiting Muslim or Christian-dominated areas for fear of being killed.”

As the economic situation continues to bite harder, a cross section of residents who spoke to our correspondent, said that had adjusted their feeing pattern in order to meet with the exigencies of the time.

“We have to cut down on the number of times we eat a day so as not to run out of money. We do not know for how long the restriction will last,” said Ekun Daniel, who is a civil servant and father of three.

“We are adjusting our feeding pattern; it is now a meal or two in a day. It is no longer business-as-usual and we pray that things will soon normalise.”

Mr. Bulus, whose shop was affected by the blast, said that he had to cut down the number of people eating in his house as a result of the biting reality.

Beyond the restriction of movement, the curfew, which has been staggered in response to the fragile security situation in the state, has brought untold hardship, inconvenience and discomfort to all. The residents now pray fervently for the pall of silence, hunger and anger that now envelope the once vibrant and lively state particularly at night, to ease out for them to return to their normal way of life.

Many have argued however that what has happened in the state in past two weeks, will teach the violent ones in the state not to stoke the embers of violence, as the consequence of such can hardly be predicted. But will they heed the warning?

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