Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 62
While Gwoza is part of Borno state with Maiduguri as its capital, Madagali belongs to
Adamawa state. Despite the fact that Yola is the capital of Adamawa state, Madagali is in
terms of the regional infrastructure orientated towards Maiduguri. This means that there is
considerably more traffic coming up from Mubi (via Madagali) and through Gwoza town than
the other way around. Maiduguri is the fast-growing urban centre of northeastern Nigeria and
as such commands a considerable migratory pull factor for plain and hill areas alike.
Also, the infrastructure in the eastern plain of the Gwoza hills had been much neglected.
Electricity had recently been introduced, but only as far as Ngoshe, and the road was in a bad
state and hardly useable during the rainy season. However there was a hospital in Ngoshe,
though this was more a first aid centre since no permanent doctor was attached to it, only a
nurse. People were mostly referred to the hospital in Gwoza town or Bama. Many people
went straight to Maiduguri to see a doctor at the Teaching Hospital there. Maiduguri also has
a university, and students liked to study there when they had completed secondary school.
Ngoshe had a secondary school for girls, but Gwoza town remained the centre where boys
attended secondary school, at least until very recently. A new secondary school opened in
Barawa during my time, which boys and girls from Dghweɗe could attend.
In the hills there were only primary schools. Many of these primary schools deteriorated
during the military regime in the 1990s and were re-vitalised only in the ten years before
Boko Haram. There was an old primary school in Hudimche (Korana Basa), which physically
collapsed during the 1990s. Hudimche also had a pharmacy, and since the end of the military
regime the pharmacist came up from Gwoza town several times a week. Ghwa'a had a
primary school with Dzga, but only since the late 1990s. 1 Kunde had a Christian-run private
primary school and a linked pharmacy. Teachers had to climb up the hills every day to deliver
their lessons. Children who wanted to attend secondary school had to leave the hills, although
with the new secondary school in Barawa this had become easier.
Gvoko was generally better equipped than Dghweɗe. Ngoshe Sama had a well functioning
primary and secondary school besides a pharmacy. The reason behind this was historical.
Ngoshe Sama had a long tradition of Christianity, which must have had a positive impact on
its infrastructure. The other reason was that it was connected by the already mentioned dirt
road. There were also some shops in Ngoshe Sama, it was on the dirt road leading to Tur, and
it had a lively cross-boundary market on the Cameroonian side of the international border.
Tur was also connected with Mokolo, and during my time taxi-loads of international tourists
came up to Tur to visit the picturesque mountain market. As previously mentioned, tourism
was not at all developed on the Nigerian side of the hills.
There were two important cross-boundary markets in the eastern plain of the Gwoza hills, the
one in Kirawa and the one in Barawa. Kirawa is a border town at the northern entry area of
the intramountainous eastern plain, with a connecting road to Mozogo, Koza and further on to
Mora, as well as Maroua in the plain of Diamaré. The latter is the eastern plain of the
Mandara Mountains (see Figure 4). Most visitors to the Kirawa border market were from the
Cameroonian side, in particular from Koza and surrounding hills. The Koza plain is the large
intramountainous plain between the Moskota and Mora hills. Kirawa market consisted of a
Cameroonian and a Nigerian part, and visitors liked to cross the border to have access to the
cheaper Nigerian goods. Kirawa market did not have the same regional significance for the
inhabitants of the Gwoza hills. They were more inclined to attend the market in Gwoza.
The other important cross-boundary market was Barawa, at the southern end of the eastern
plain. This market was also used by Cameroonians from the hills, mainly Mafa from across
the border who wanted to buy cheaper Nigerian goods. They trekked or arrived on motorbikes
1
In 1996 Stella Cattini (see Cattini-Muller 2000) established that, of the over 500 children and young
people of the ward of Dzga, only fourteen had attended primary school. Stella subsequently founded
Dzga Learning Support, a small London-based charity, which became instrumental in bringing nondenominational primary education to Dzga. In 2005, after almost ten years of primary education in
Dzga, more than 250 children were registered to attend the new primary school there.
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