The story of Nuraddeen Tahir is heart-rending. He was born normal like every other child.
In 2003 when he was in primary six, he had an accident in Kano state and got his left arm amputated. Penultimate week he lost the remaining hand to another accident.
The Nation Correspondent visited him at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Jalingo where he is receiving treatment Saturday.
Tahir sustained deep wounds on his chest and forehead. His right eye was affected too.
However, his legs and sex organs are not affected, which means he can marry and have children.
Tahir, 27, graduated is from the Yusuf Maitama Sule University, Kano.
He was posted to serve in Taraba. After the orientation in camp, officials of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) recommended his redeployment to Kano, given his condition -he had one hand then.
But Tahir insisted serving in Taraba. He was thrilled by gists about the tourist attractions in Taraba. He wanted to experience a new environment, feel new weather and climate, meet and relate with new people.
Thus, he was posted to Sardauna at his request. He had wanted to go and climb the breathtaking Mambilla Plateau and see where the sky appears to be kissing the earth.
But that was not to be. On his way to Sardauna, at Sibre, just a kilometre away from the orientation camp, his vehicle had a head-on coalition with a Sharon. There were 17 in their ill-fated bus. One of them died two days after the mishap. Tahir and the 15 others survived.
But Tahir’s only hand got battered and was amputated in the hospital at doctor’s advice.
He also lost his mobile phone and other valuables to the crash.
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He is now in Amenity ward now, having moved from Accident/Emergency and Surgical wards. He seen to be recuperating fast, even as he still suffers severe pains, mostly from the amputated arm.
He has difficulty speaking and hardly sleeps, particularly at night. Beyond the wounds, he is depressed, physically and mentally. The double amputee needs proper rehabilitation. He needs to be loved too. His brother, Shamsu Tahir, has come from Kano to assist him.
Taraba state government is paying the bills of Tahir and the other corps members involved in the accident, it was learnt.
During this reporter’s interface with him, he asked government to give him a job. “I want a job from government,” he said. Director General of NYSC, Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim, who visited him during the week, has promised to import artificial limbs from Saudi Arabia for him.
“All the predicaments the accident victims are passing through are as a result of their offer to serve Nigeria. The NYSC must do all it can to put smiles on their faces,” Gen Ibrahim said. Tahir, a holder of BA Islamic Studies, believes the artificial limbs will assist him do some activities by himself, including the work he is expecting from government.
Some comedies heralded his tragedy. Tahir said they were helpless for several minutes when the accident occurred, until a Good Samaritan came to lift them to the hospital in his private car. But no sooner had the helper zoomed off with them, his vehicle ran out of fuel.
“He left us in search of fuel. He later got it from ‘black market’ after so much time had been wasted,” Tahir said. At the FMC, another drama played out. Despite their condition, the victims were kept in the vehicle that brought them for long. Tahir recounted that the hospital officials said they had no stretchers to off-load them to the Emergency Ward.
Tahir is no longer fascinated by the things that had attracted him in Taraba state. “I want to return to Kano,” he said. [THE NATION]
