PLANNING FOR RESETTLING THE HILL PEOPLE OF KOMA IN ADAMAWA STATE

By

Author

Presented To

Department of Environmental Design

ABSTRACT
The physical living environment of the Koma people and their Socio-Economic condition calls for planning for them. The planning for them is to integrated them into the State development efforts, and afford them the opportunity for them to contribute to the growth and development of the state as well as the nation. This study is an attempt in planning for resettling the hill people of Koma in Adamawa State. This is aimed at finding out problems on the hills and provide some proposals and recommendations for an appropriate resettlement scheme of the hill people of Koma and for future resettlements in the state. Data for the study was collected through field surveys, questionaire administration, interviews, discussion, personal observations, photographs, published and unpublished documents from various sources, Newspapers and Magazines etc. The study first examines the physical characteristic of the area under which the people live. It was found out that the area is topographically in accessible and also hilly hindering not only administrative accessibility but also provision of infrastructural facilities and services. The study further assessed the various processes adopted in resettlement schemes and determined their successes and failures. The study examines three selected scheme undertaking particularly in Northern part and review their successes and failures. The three selected resettlement schemes are Gwoza, Kainji and Shendam. An assessment of current efforts made to resettling the Koma hill people was carried out and it was found out that the attempt failed because of lack of proper understanding of the various processes/approaches involve and inappropriate planning and administration of the scheme. There was also the problem of lack of considering the scheme as a priority programme by the administrators, hence, frequent policy changes were carried out and it affected the scheme as it was later abandoned. Attempt was also made to study the Socio-Economic conditions of the Koma hill dwellers. It was found out that the Koma people are in accessible. For this reason they lack all basic needs. They do not have schools, hospitals or clinics, treated drinking water and so forth. It was also found out that they cultivate on small plots of land which are always controlled by terracing to check soil erosion. It was also found out that their harvest are low. The low harvest does not permit them to sale their products for cash to purchase the vital basic needs for their well being. They have no communication routes. The only one existing are foot paths. The area also shows the general lack of government presence in form of provision of these lacking infrastructural facilities despite the fact that the people are aware that government will provide them with these facilities. It was also found out that the Koma people believed in their gods and place greater emphasis or their existence so much so that all the life of the Koma man is believed to be controlled by their gods. On the basis of these findings some proposals and recommendations have been put forward for a successful planning for resettling the Koma people. The proposals include alternative layout plans based on site analysis carried out. Successful implementation of these proposals and recommendations will benefit the Koma people. Their standard of living will improve, the development of the area will be faster, life expectancy will improve as they will be in contact with modern medical facilities. These recommendation are put forward with a view to successfully resettle the Koma hill people and other future resettlement schemes to be carried out in the State and elsewhere in the country.