When fire gutted 24 compounds in Gashaka village

Our correspondent who was at Gashaka village reported that the burnt down compounds were mostly mud houses with thatched roofs and were reduced to ashes. The Jauro (Village Head) of Gashaka, Malam Habibu Abo said when the fire occurred, everybody was shocked because nobody knew how and where the fire started. “We just saw flames […]

Our correspondent who was at Gashaka village reported that the burnt down compounds were mostly mud houses with thatched roofs and were reduced to ashes.

The Jauro (Village Head) of Gashaka, Malam Habibu Abo said when the fire occurred, everybody was shocked because nobody knew how and where the fire started.

“We just saw flames from nowhere in particular, torching house after house and before we could decipher what was happening, smoke enveloped the whole community and it became difficult to try to stop the fire. We just surrendered to fierce flames,” he said.

He estimated the farm crops and household items the fire destroyed at over N5 million. “The fire has made my people hungry while rendering them homeless. We have been thrown into a hopeless situation but now we are beginning to have hope,” he said.

However, no life was lost and injury recorded in the fire incident that burnt down a large section of the wilderness making up the Gashaka Gumti National Park.

The fire incident was a cause of worry for the management of the Gashaka Gumti National Park. The Conservator of the Park, Dr Okedeji A. Okeyoyin who was in the village to handout relief materials to the victims of the fire, lamented that villages around the park have been ignoring the park’s management, warning that bush burning was destructive and degrades the environment.

“Fire as we have been preaching, can be a good or bad master, depending on how it is managed. That is why the (GGNP) management has persistently been issuing circulars on a annual basis pertaining to early management prescribed for burning exercise. This is usually given in advance to guard against incidences like the one that Gashaka village has just experienced,” he said.

While giving out 50 bags of maize, 50 mats, 50 blankets and about N270,000 to the 24 victims of the fire incident, Dr Okeyoyin cautioned that “communities in and around the park should be careful over this properties early enough to avert cases of wild fire. We should always imbibe the culture of environmental cleanliness.”

He said GGNP symphatises with the community as part of its corporate social responsibility and insisted GGNP was not taking over the responsibilities of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) or State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).

“We have different mandates,” he said, adding, “while we are into conservation and protection of the natural resources as well as our local heritage in the park, we also have concern for the people in and around the park as only through such that we can achieve our desired goals and objectives.”

He called on the villages to always reciprocate the kind gesture of the park and support the conservation efforts of the management.

Receiving the relief materials on behalf of his community, the Jauro, Malam Abo, expressed, happiness that the parks management supports them in the time of their need. He said when the fire occurred, the park management was the first to come and assess the extent of damage the fire wreaked and promised to cooperate with the park management so that its conservation efforts can be successful.

In his sympathy message, the Conservator General of the National Park Service, Alhaji Abubakar Tanko Haruna, who was represented by a senior staff of the service, Alhaji Suleiman Yahaya, said the park is being conserved for the benefit of the adjoining communities and urged the Gashaka community to support the park management to curb poaching and lugging.

Also in his remarks, the Caretaker Chairman of Gashaka Local Government, Hon. Nicodemus Bulus Garbabi, represented by the Vice Chairman, Alhaji Hayatu Hamman Gabdo, appreciated the management of GGNP for the kind gesture saying the council has sent an assessment team to the village to ascertain the level of destruction. He said the report of the assessment team is ready and has been forwarded to the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) for a response, describingthe incident as an act of God and prayed that such will not occur again.