Metro
Mararaba, The Taraba Community Where Water Is A Luxury
Situated in the southern part of Taraba State, Mararaba is home to numerous personalities in the state, one of which is the deputy Senate minority leader, Emmanuel Bwacha.
The town, which is home to over 30,000 inhabitants, still suffers from water scarcity which over time has brought untold hardship to residents of the area. Water, be it clean or not, is luxury to them and has become a part of their daily lives.
Located in Donga Local Government Area of Taraba State, Mararaba citizens are yet to tap the dividends of democracy although they have been voting and participating in various political processes so far.
Howbeit, the agrarian community which is home to various tribes in the state, will soon heave a sigh of relief with the delivery of two drilling rigs and other machines, including water tankers by the Federal Government through the instrumentality of Senator Emmanuel Bwacha.
Before now, they had been relying mostly on streams and wells which during the dry season cannot cater for all their water needs. Most of their sources of water are distant from their homes and residents trek for kilometres in search of water.
Water being an integral part of farming for them is a source of worry. But the coming of the rainy season has to an extent eased their suffering. While some have a reservoir for the rainwater, others simply hope for constant rainfall for a bumper harvest.
Arewa Voice correspondent who was in Mararaba community where the drilling rigs and other machines from the Federal Government were officially handed over to a committee set up to identify where modern boreholes would be sunk, observed that the gesture excited members of the community who came from far and near.
The women in particular, who came in large numbers, could not hide their joy as they danced to the various tunes coming from the public address system at a football field within the community where the machines were handed over to the implementing committee.
Senator Bwacha, accompanied by a representative of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, handed over the keys of the machines to the committee. Relishing his experience as a young boy in the community, Bwacha was grateful that through him his community and environs have finally been liberated and would no longer suffer for lack of clean water.
“We have had this problem of water supply since I was growing up as a young boy. We had to trek long distances in order to fetch stream water for our daily use. But when I got into government in 1999 as Commissioner for Agriculture in Taraba, we sank some local boreholes in this community which did not provide enough water because their level of production was very low.
During the seventh Senate, I proposed a project for the reticulation of water from River Suntai into this community which was captured in the 2018 budget. But after due consultation, we discovered that this project would not have much impact on the community because the funds allocated for its delivery was too small.
“Afterwards, we sought for a change of plan by writing a corrigendum for the purchase of drilling rigs from India instead of reticulation of water from River Suntai to the community. The money allotted for this was N400 million which was used to buy two drilling rigs and supporting machines, including water tankers which have now been delivered.
“These rigs will not only serve the Mararaba community, but all other communities in Taraba South which I represent would equally benefit. And this is why a committee has been inaugurated to identify communities under the five local government areas in Southern Taraba where modern boreholes would be drilled at a reduced cost,” Bwacha said.
The Petroleum Products Marketing Company, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, has increased the ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, to N155.17 per litre from N147.67 per litre Punch reports,
The PPMC disclosed this in an internal memo with reference number PPMC/C/MK/003, dated November 11, 2020, and signed by Tijjani Ali.
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The memo, a copy of which was seen by our correspondent, said the new ex-depot price would take effect from Friday.
The ex-depot price is the price at which the product is sold by the PPMC to marketers at the depots.
In its PMS price proposal for November, the PPMC put the landing cost of petrol at N128.89 per litre, up from N119.77 per litre in September/October.
It said the estimated minimum pump price of the product would increase to N161.36 per litre from N153.86 per litre.
The National Operation Controller, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr Mike Osatuyi, in a telephone interview with our correspondent, said the over N7 increase in ex-depot price would translate into an increase in pump prices.
“Crude oil price is going up,” he said, noting that the Federal Government has fully deregulated petrol prices.
Following the deregulation of petrol prices in September, marketers across the country adjusted their pump prices to between N158 and N162 per litre to reflect the increase in global oil prices.
Petrol price band had also risen from N121.50–N123.50 per litre in June to N140.80-N143.80 in July and N148-N150 in August.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, said in September that the government had stepped back in fixing the price of petrol, adding that market forces and crude oil price would continue to determine the cost of the product.
A parody account of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU has given undergraduates seven pieces of advice on how to spend their time because of the union’s indefinite strike.
“Here are 7 ways you can make the most of this period.
1.Intern or get a small-time job
This may be a great time to draft your CV and pitch yourself to employers. Already, there are a couple of opportunities since the announcement of this strike.
2.Join the family business
Some of us have ‘family businesses’. This the business our parents have been doing for some time. It can be a big-time company or a small supermart. Whichever one it is, it’s not a bad idea spending holiday working here. It’s one way to give back and also add to your professional experience.
3. Learn a new skill
I have an engineer friend who makes a living today from graphics design. He learnt it while we were in school. There’s almost no limit to the skills you can learn during holidays. If anything, start with learning basic and intermediate computer operations(if you don’t know that by now). Code schools are also popping up
everywhere so you can join one. You can also join the growing community of Nigerian freelancers and hone your skills.
4. Be active in church or mosque, other groups
Refuse to be an onlooker anywhere you find yourself. Be a part of people who make things work. Join a group in church, your community, and be active in it. These experiences also contribute shaping the person you’ll be in the future.
5. Travel
There’s no harm in travelling if you can afford it. Travelling is also a form of learning. If you happen to have relations scattered around Nigeria and abroad, consider travelling. Life’s too short to not explore more places.
6. Read books
We don’t mean only course-related books. Take up a novel, read a book on investment, study Nigerian history, look up spiritual books. Read far and wide.
7. Have fun
Well, you still have to catch some fun. Plus, it’s perfectly okay to spoil yourself a little. You can binge watch your favourite TV series, play football, go to more events etc etc.
*Story re-edited to reflect that the advice is from an ASUU parody account.
Traders burn 10-year-old boy for allegedly stealing food
A 10-year-old boy, Ifeanyi, was on Saturday thrown into a fire for allegedly stealing a small measure of uncooked rice in a market at Inikiri Benard village, Effium community, in the Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the lad’s mother was late, while his father was mentally-challenged.
A community source said, “The boy was thrown into a fire by two traders who accused him of stealing rice from a shop at the market to cook for himself and his father.”
The Chairman of Human Rights Defenders, Ebonyi State chapter, Mr Sam Nweke, condemned the inhuman act meted out to the kid.
He said, “HURIDE got a call from one Mr George Etamesor, on the grave abuse of this poor boy. This was because he was caught trying to steal some rice in their village market. They tied him up, threw him into the fire in a refuse dump in the market and allowed him to roast like a goat.
“The perpetrators are from the village. After committing this evil and seeing the critical condition of their victim, they still abandoned him to groan to death.
“It took the intervention of sympathisers to rush him to AMURT Hospital in Effium. But due to the severe nature of the injuries, boy was denied treatment. Efforts were thereafter made to take him to the Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, where he is currently struggling between life and death.”
Nweke added, “When we inquired from the perpetrators why they went that far in maltreating the boy, they said he had the habit of stealing cassava, yam and others. So this time, they caught him stealing their rice and they decided to teach him a lesson so that he would not come back to steal their food again.
“They said it was not their intention to burn his whole body. They said they only tied him up and after beating him, they tried to roast his toes in the fire, but because he was struggling, he slipped off their hands and fell into the fire and got burnt beyond their expectation. We have reported the incident to the police.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mrs Loveth Odah, said though she was aware of the incident, the police had yet to receive an official complaint on the matter.
She said, “I heard about the ugly incident as a person; it is painful. But the command has not been officially communicated.
“We wanted to arrest those who did this evil thing to the small boy, but the attitude of the human rights group which drew my attention to the incident is not encouraging. The HURIDE people told us that we should not arrest them for now because they want them (the perpetrators) to first take care of the boy’s medical bills in the hospital. I don’t know why they keep doing this.”
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