92-Yr-Old Flood Victim Leads Effort Help Other Victims In Delta

Chief Joseph Dike, the Okpala Uku and Iyasele Onowu of Onuaboh community, in Ndokwa East Local Government Area of Delta State was among thousands of members of his community that were displaced by the devastating floods of October 2022. His entire compound including his 10-room bungalow with its prized courtyard where he holds community conferences and meetings was completely submerged by the floods, which lasted for many weeks.
As devastating as the disaster was to him personally, Chief Dike took the misfortune lightly even when his children rallied to provide him some support. His home was only one among the over 1,000 homes affected by the floods.
“I am 92 years old; if I die nobody can say I have not lived. So don’t worry about roof over my head when young families with innocent children have nowhere to call home. Please direct your efforts to where it really matters; the farmers who can’t farm nor feed their families; the many in my community now displaced and in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps across Delta State,” he told his concerned children.
Pa Dike rather directed his appeal to the Federal and State Governments to use the ecological funds to execute schemes to forestall recurrence of the disaster in flood-prone areas in Ndokwa East Local Government Area to rescue the riverine communities from the untold hardship from flooding.
That was how the assistance that was meant to assist him was expanded to “Okpala Uku Joseph Dike Flood Relief Project for Onuaboh community.”
According to one his children, Mr. Harrison Dike, who is coordinating the flood relief effort, the short-term goal is to raise about N5 million (about $10,000 dollars) to assist the over 10,000 families in Onuaboh displaced from their homes by the floods with food items such as rice, beans, yam, noodles, garri and personal hygiene supplies.
The effort according him to encourage displaced Onuaboh farmers to return to home after the receding of the flood and start preparing for the next planting season. He said arrangements have been made to secure cassava stems, improved yam seedlings, okra, egusi and corn seeds for the returning farmers.
“We are mobilizing and pulling resources together first as a family to honor our father’s wish to help our community and leveraging our contacts, friends, and professional colleagues to help our community recover quickly from this terrible flood disaster,” he said.
Mr. Festus Dike, his nephew and an accountant is using his alumni network both at the University of Lagos and Federal Government College, Warri to canvass support for the Onuaboh flood relief project to which he has apreday made personal donation of N100,000. Another of his classmate at FGC, Warri, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan has also contributed N100,000 to support the effort. An Atlanta, USA based eatery, Chick’nCone, operated by Kingsley, one of Chief Dike’s sons, has donated $1,000 as part of its community support program.
But Pa Dike has a long history of philanthropy and community service. “My Uncle Chief Joseph Dike’s life of community service is very inspiring. He is my hero and if at over 90 years old he still bears not his personal or family burdens but that of the entire Onuaboh and Ndosimili area then who am I to stand on the fence? ” Festus Dike said. He argues that while it is fashionable to begin to assail the government for the plight of the people, the Dike family ethos teaches that we do something no matter how little to attempt to salvage the situation and bring a little cheer to people who otherwise have nothing to cheer about during the yuletide season. “Christmas is a period of goodwill, and I am asking all men and women of goodwill to help us reach our goal by supporting the effort,” he said.
Chief Dike’s life speaks of community service. He used the occasion of his ascension to the throne as the Okpala Uku of Onuaboh community in 2018 to advocate for better living conditions for the people. He had called on government to look closely to the living conditions of riverine communities and change the current trajectory of their difficult living conditions of no passable roads, bridges, and electricity.
As a youngster, he served as English interpreter and translator for the elders during their interactions with visiting colonial officials in the 1940s. He was then a brilliant primary school pupil in the Native Authority (NA) Primary School in Onuaboh. He fought fiercely to defende the Onuaboh community and the Ndosimili people during Nigerian Civil War. Ndokwa area was the scene of intense fighting between the Biafran rebel forces and the Nigerian Army during the war.
Chief Dike had at that time carried out a one-man protest against relocating displaced families to Ughelli, Benin, Uzere and Auchi areas that were too far from their ancestral homeland. Through contribution of opinion articles in the lead newspapers of that era, his point of view got the attention of the Federal Military Government and families already taken as far as Ughelli, Benin, Auchi, Uzere were brought back and resettled in Ndokwa town of Obiarukwu.
This victory energized the then young schoolteacher, who was the Headmaster of Iyiatu LA Primary School in Kwale and led to his appointment as the Chief Refugee Relief Officer for war affected areas. He mobilized public opinion to call for the provision of relief materials particularly food and water for the displaced communities. He contributed to the then ongoing dialogue to prevent starvation that was ravaging the Eastern region from permeating the war affected areas in Midwestern region, particularly the Ndokwa area.
That is why the present plight of his people rankles. It is like history repeating itself in a way, albeit in a different way. But it is the same issues he confronted and dealt with as refugee relief officer for war affected areas almost 50 years ago (hunger, displaced persons, relief supplies, community devastation and refugee crisis and camps) that are still dominating the headlines today.
The old man is happy that his own children are supporting his public spirit. “I am grateful that this time we are not waiting on the government, I am proud of my own children coming together with their friends and colleagues to rescue a whole community. That they are doing this is a testament that my own life has not been in vain and for this I thank God”.
Kingsley Dike, who is a son of Chief Dike, is a retired United States Army Military Intelligence Analyst. He wrote from Atlanta, GA USA