10 years after crisis, Jos community yet to rebuild houses

The vivacity of Anglo Jos community is a sight to behold for a visitor coming into the community for the first time. From the business activities to the kids playing hide-and-seek, as well as youths doing one form of menial jobs or another and the men sitting under various shades chatting and laughing, among other […]

The vivacity of Anglo Jos community is a sight to behold for a visitor coming into the community for the first time. From the business activities to the kids playing hide-and-seek, as well as youths doing one form of menial jobs or another and the men sitting under various shades chatting and laughing, among other things, the community looks calm and welcoming.

However, behind their happy outlook is a sad tale of how they are still suffering from the aftermath of an ethno-religious crises, between the Christians and the Muslims, which happened in 2010, especially in the area of rebuilding their houses. Those who suffered in that regards are members of the Muslim community who have been unable to rebuild their houses after they were attacked during the crisis. Over 13 persons were said to be killed, while about 100 houses were destroyed.

Though relative peace has since returned and all the different segments of the community are living happily together, but those affected by the 2010 crisis and lost their houses/properties are yet to recover. A church and a mosque are standing close to each other, while a borehole build by an Islamiyya school provides water for both the Christian and the Muslim residents of the community.

Some of the victims who spoke on their inability to rebuild their houses after the 2010 crisis owe it to the hardship overtime and the lack of funds to build back their lives again. They also lamented that they didn’t receive any tangible help from the government, private bodies or Non-Governmental Organizations.

Maitama Yusuf Aliyu is one of the victims who spoke to our correspondent on his inability to rebuild his house since the 2010 crisis. He said he came to the community in 1955 as a child and lived there until 1969 when he joined the Nigerian Army where he served until 1981, retired and returned back to the community and has lived there till date.

Aliyu, now 70 years old, said his father was a tin miner and served as an interpreter for the British miners then. He said his father died in 1964.

“We have been living here peacefully with one another irrespective of tribe and religion from time immemorial. We relate well with one another, moved freely and go from one point to the other without any problem or fear of molestation. But from 2001 when ethno religious crises began in Plateau State, things changed drastically. I always blamed the crises on politicians who use religion to always cause trouble.

“But peace has since returned to the state and everything is better than before. The last crisis we had in Anglo Jos here was in 2010 and I lost my house which was burnt down. Since then, I have not been able to rebuild it due to lack of funds. I had to relocate my wife and children to Bauchi State while I remain here doing security work at a company. Many other people here who lost their houses and properties to the crisis have not been able to rebuild it, except very few. The main reason for this is lack of money,” he said.

He stressed that since he doesn’t have where to stay, he always stays from one shop to the other whenever he returns from his security work, adding that at the end of the month when he receives his meagre salary, he takes money to his wife and five children in Bauchi.

He called on the government and other public-spirited people/groups to come to their aid and assist them in one way or the other so that they can rebuild their houses at least.

Another victim, Mohammed Gumel, said since the unfortunate incident, he has been unable to erect even a room from his destroyed structure, and had to take his family to Toro in Bauchi State, while some of his children are married in Gumel, Jigawa State.

Gumel, who is 70, said he is a retired police officer and depended on his pension for survival and to also take care of his family. He was a security guard at an electronics shop around British-America Junction in Jos until last year when he was laid off.

He said he has tried in vain to see how he could utilize his pension or raise additional money to rebuild his destroyed house over the years, all to no avail.

According to him, he has two wives and 12 children. One of his wives is late, while some of his children are already married, with one having seven children already.

The village head, Alhaji Abdulkareem Wase, said before the crisis they were all living together peacefully like brothers and sisters irrespective of tribe and religion. He said his house was also destroyed during the crisis as well as that of his children.

The village head said last year (2019), some government officials came to evaluate the destroyed houses and they were asked to fill some forms and open specific bank accounts with the promise of giving each person who lost his house in the crises N10,000. But till date, they are yet to receive any money from the government as promised.

Alhaji Wase, who said he was born in 1942, explained that since the cessation of tin mining, the community members have been employed by one factory or another until most of the factories either folded up or are now operating below operational capacity. In effect, most members of the community have turned to petty trading and other menial jobs.

According to him, most of them acquired where they are living today from the natives decades ago, and many of them residing there are also natives of Plateau State just as he is from Wase Local Government Area of the state.

When contacted, the Plateau State Commissioner of Information, Dan Manjang, said the administration is responsive and is more than willing to assist victims of crises in the state if they have the capacity to do that, even though some of the crises predate the administration.

He said they are constantly talking with some donor agencies and private bodies to come in and assist, explaining that even in the case of the Gashish community in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area where many lost their lives and houses as a result of the 2018 attack on the community, the COCIN church stepped in and assisted the victims in tremendous ways.

He said the government is saddened that its citizens have to go through nasty experience, stressing that the most important solution to all these is for the people to live in peace with one another, which is the prevailing message the government is currently preaching.

The commissioner said despite the fact that the government is grappling with lots of things yearning for its attention, it is always willing to assist crises victims in any way it can.

Manjang promised that the government will look into their situation, and advised the people of the community to document their complains and write to government because there is the tendency for events to overtake a situation as theirs which has lasted about 10 years.

He said the government will surely look into the matter and see what it would do through the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) which is saddled with such responsibility.