By Gbenga Akingbule
Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, on Monday, imposed an indefinite ban on metal scavenging activities across the state to prevent killings of scavengers by suspected Boko Haram terrorists.
Gatekeepers News reports that the indefinite ban is aimed at safeguarding the lives of metal scavengers who had recently become targets of suspected Boko Haram terrorists.
According to Mallam Isa Gusau, Special to Governor Zulum on Communication and Strategy, “the governor’s ban aims to forestall continued killings of scavengers by Boko Haram insurgents at the outskirts of some local government areas and to stop the theft of public and private property.
Gusau stated that known and unknown number of youths who go to deserted communities in search of metals have been ambushed and killed by insurgents.
According to Prof Zulum “within the last five years, many people were killed as a result of metal scavenging. That has informed the government of Borno State to investigate such nefarious activities”, Zulum said.
He added, “You have seen this place, all these are government properties and behind you are properties belonging to telecommunication companies. Such activities can only be tagged as economic sabotage to both the federal and state governments. Therefore, I have directed the ban of metal scavenging in all 27 local governments until further notice.”
Zulum explained that those scavengers are notorious for destroying both public and private properties in most local government areas where the activities of Boko Haram forced residents to flee.
He noted that the state government lost valuable properties worth billions of naira in the last five years resulting from the activities of scavengers.
The governor said the ban on metal scavenging extends to all forms of informal and unregulated metal recovery activities, including the dismantling, collecting, and transporting of scrap metals.
Borno government, he warned, will work closely with security agencies to effectively enforce the ban by imposing stringent penalties on violators.
