I commiserate with the families who lost loved ones to the stampedes of recent days in Ibadan, Oyo State, Okija, Anambra State and Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT). There can be no greater tragedy than for anybody to die while looking for something to eat, especially during a festive season like this. So, for those in authority at all levels, the message should be clear. But from what I have been reading in recent days, it appears some may simply be looking for scapegoats while others are playing politics with a problem that has always been with us. In the process, important lessons are ignored. If only to honour the memories of the dead, we must not waste this moment.

While ordering a probe into the tragedies, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun “warned groups and organizers of similar events to ensure the involvement of security agencies as negligence on their part is criminal and would not be overlooked…” These incidents, according to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Director General, Zubaida Umar, who also waded in, “undermine the goodwill behind charity events, turning acts of kindness into sources of grief due to poor planning and crowd control.” The impression being unwittingly created is that these tragedies would not have occurred if the police and other security agencies as well as NEMA ‘experts’ had been involved in planning and execution. Even President Bola Tinubu seems to have bought into that narrative considering what he said during his media chat on Monday night. But is the blame game supported by empirical fact?

On 23 February this year, seven people died following a stampede during the distribution of 25kg bags of rice at a discounted price of N10,000 by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in Lagos. Aside the fact that the NCS is a quango whose personnel bear arms, policemen were also at their zonal headquarters in Yaba when the stampede occurred. “Unforeseen challenges arose when we ran out of stock and announced the continuation of the exercise the following day, leading to a regrettable outcome,” spokesperson for the service, Abdullahi Maiwada, explained after the incident. “The crowd became desperate and charged through our barricades in search of rice bags inside emptied containers. In the stampede that ensued, some fatalities and injuries were regrettably recorded.”

A month later, two female students at the Nasarawa State University in Keffi, also died while 17 other students were injured following a stampede inside a hall where bags of rice were kept. Security personnel at the scene were reportedly ‘overpowered’. At the instance of Governor Abdullahi Sule, each tertiary school student in the State was to receive two 7.5kg bags of rice and N5,000 to cushion the effect of the difficult times in the country. “After our arrangement for the distribution of palliatives to the students that was to be held at the university’s convocation square, they (students) suddenly arrived at the venue in their numbers and overpowered security,” the Nasarawa State Students Association national president, Yunusa Yusuf Baduku, explained. “They (the students) broke through the gate into the hall where the bags of rice were to be shared. Unfortunately, most of our female students sustained injuries. We rushed several students to the school clinic and Federal Medical Centre Keffi. I learned that two female students died from suffocation.”

Given the foregoing, the self-righteous fixation about ‘criminal negligence’ on the part of organisers of these events may not be accurate. And it could be counterproductive. Since I arrived Ilorin last Saturday for the Christmas holiday, I have found it difficult to sleep well as I reflect on where I would probably be now if God had not intervened on behalf of our church three weeks ago when we organised a similar programme. Therefore, as much as I share in the grief of the bereaved families, I also sympathise with the organisers of these events who must now be going through trauma. So, before I conclude with my take on these tragedies, I seek the indulgence of readers to share a personal experience.

The Everlasting Arms Parish (TEAP) of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), where I worship in Abuja, features an annual programme that supports the less fortunate with gifts of food items and household wares during the Christmas period. Called ‘Tabitha Tent’, it was initiated by Pastor Chinedu Ezekwesili in 2007 and continues with his successor, Evaristus Azodoh. Dependent on donations from church members (with some members also using their networks to get external support), the event is held on the first Saturday in December every year. While my wife and I had been actively involved from the beginning, Pastor Azodoh raised the stakes in 2019 by appointing me chairman of the organising committee. Our responsibilities include raising funds, procuring essential foodstuffs and coordinating the programme. I have able lieutenants in Modupe Ogundimu, the Lagos Zonal Director, National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Elizabeth Ekpenyong, Director of Strategic Programmes, Debt Management Office (DMO) Abuja, Funke Abegunde, a teacher at the American International School, Abuja and Bello Bissalla, Managing Director/CEO, Beltina Printing Press.

Being both a retired army Colonel and a medical doctor (with his wife also a medical doctor), Pastor Azodoh ensured we had security and medical teams in place for the programme every year. Despite that, we have had situations of some participants going home with bruises and other minor injuries after being treated by our team of medical personal led by Dr. Rosemary Nwokorie, a consultant anaesthesiologist and Chairman Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC), Asokoro General Hospital and Bayo Olakareem, a pharmacist. Last year, a woman broke her arm in the struggle at the gate. After the preliminary intervention by our medical team, I asked my driver to take her to the hospital with N50,000 as a deposit. Before they left the church premises, the woman asked to be given the money and just taken home. When all entreaties for her to be taken to the hospital proved futile, we acted as she demanded. She was around three weeks ago for this year’s edition and told us she had spent a fraction of the money to heal the arm through traditional methods. That is the kind of poverty you deal with at these charity programmes.

On Saturday, 7th December, our medical team was on ground and for security, we had ten policemen and another ten men from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to support them. These 20 official security people were joined by our 13 in-house security personnel (we have an expansive compound that also hosts both primary and secondary schools) and several Ministers/Workers. In the days preceding the event, as it was the practice every year, we (in the organising committee) also fasted and prayed together. On the D-Day, we believed we were well covered despite the thousands who had camped outside our church premises from Friday 6th December – 24 hours before the programme.

The programme started by 8am with beneficiaries (the number we could cater for) allowed entrance into the premises through a guided process once they collected the accreditation tags. Everything went well and by 10.30am we had concluded the sharing of foodstuffs to as many as 1,300 people – only clothing materials and shoes were left. By our arrangement, beneficiaries had to remain inside the church premises so that they could all leave at the same time since the number of people outside was almost three times the number inside. When we felt our assignment was completed, we asked the security personnel to open the two gates to allow beneficiaries to exit with their packs. That was when all hell broke loose.

The moment the gates were opened, the thousands of people outside rushed in. And that was the point of divine intervention. For some inexplicable reason, the people inside practically froze. Likewise with all the security men who became mere onlookers. That was how we were saved from what could have been a tragedy. If those inside had attempted moving out while those outside rushed in, as it almost always happens on such occasions, many lives would have been lost. Although Pastor Azodoh was evidently shaken by what we witnessed, I had a delayed reaction. It was only after the Ibadan tragedy that I began to ruminate on what could have happened at Tabitha Tent 2024!

The first lesson I take from ‘Tabitha Tent’ every year is how the level of desperation in our society continues to rise and the need for concerted efforts to deal with food insecurity for millions of our people. This is a programme that we do not advertise yet huge crowds turn up every year. Packs contain little more than rice, beans and garri (vegetable oil has disappeared from our list in the last two years) that would last no more than two weeks at most. Yet people come from as far as Nasarawa and Plateau States. Since they are mostly women, another story on its own, many come with their children. They sleep on bare ground outside the church premises and endure the scorching sun the next day. Meanwhile, some still go home empty-handed because the turn-out almost always exceeded our provision—even when we were catering for about 5,000 people.

Now to the critical issues. If you remove his usual divisive slant, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) Executive Director, Prof Ishaq Akintola, is right to demand the immediate and unconditional release of those arrested over the Ibadan disaster. “Queen Naomi Silekunola in particular is well known for her philanthropic activities and nobody in his or her right mind will assume that she deliberately planned a massacre,” Akintola wrote following her arraignment along with two others on a four-count charge of conspiracy, acceleration of death, negligent acts causing harm, and failure to provide adequate security and medical facilities. “By the same token, the arrest of the principal of Islamic High School, Orita Bashorun, Ibadan, was quite unnecessary because the alumni of that school have confirmed that the venue was approved by the Oyo State Ministry of Education and not by the principal acting unilaterally.”

The point for me is that in a nation where there is no safety net for the poor by the government at any level, criminalising charity work is unconscionable. How the programmes should be organized can be debated but it would be catastrophic if public-spirited individuals and corporate bodies were discouraged from supporting such programmes. That can easily happen with the way some officials are carrying on about seeking government permits bla bla bla. But there are also lessons that organisers of these charity programmes should take onboard going forward. As I wrote in my March column, ‘The Stampede for Food to Eat’ (https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2024/03/28/the-stampede-for-food-to-eat/), there is a lot we can all learn from the ‘Al-Habibiyyah Society Food Programme’ through which Imam Fuad Adeyemi has, for almost two decades, been feeding thousands of people every day in Abuja during Ramadan, in a flawless manner. The secret is that the Imam deploys several unarmed volunteers from the elite of our society because they can attest to his integrity. If you unleash too many arms-bearing security personnel to confront an army of hungry and desperate people where food is being shared, as is being suggested, you are inviting trouble. But we must also rethink the idea of a safety net for the poor beyond ‘palliatives’ that do not address the challenge of hunger in a sustainable manner.

Many have suggested that empowering the people through vocational training and providing funds for small scale businesses is the way to go for philanthropic organisations. I subscribe to the idea. But it is also not as easy as they imagine in a nation where not only are many people lazy but also have an entitled mentality. Four years ago, Pastor Azodoh expanded the mandate of ‘Tabitha Tent’ to include empowerment. We were to organize training programmes and give out loans to support small businesses. The church provided a tidy amount as seed money. I delegated Bissalla to handle that assignment. We would spend a lot of money to organize training programmes, invite resource people and at the end, only a few people would turn up. But when we ask for proposals on viable ideas that could be supported with soft loans, we would receive hundreds of applications, each requesting for millions of Naira “to do business”!

While investigations continue on the stampedes that claimed dozens of lives in Ibadan, Okija and Abuja, government agencies must be ready to provide the support needed to individuals and organizations carrying out acts of charity. They should not scare them away. Based on the demography of the casualties in the three recent tragedies, it is evident that victims are mostly women and children – the most vulnerable of any society. Considering that Nigeria’s population is predominantly youth based, there must be a deliberate policy to identify and implement empowerment initiatives that directly impact their lives and communities. But as a matter of urgency, the government must also address the root causes of the kind of poverty that pushes our people to the point of animalistic desperation.

•You can follow Segun Adeniyi on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, @Olusegunverdict and onwww.olusegunadeniyi.com