By Ahmed Liman Kingimi, Maiduguri
Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum has urged the Federal Government to halt plans to auction heavy equipment at the Chad Basin Development Authority, CBDA, warning the sale would cripple agriculture and benefit Boko Haram insurgents.
Zulum said intelligence available to the Borno government showed “unscrupulous elements” were attempting to remove serviceable equipment from CBDA facilities and booster stations across northern Borno under the pretext of scrap metal disposal.
“The Federal Government procured this equipment at great cost, and it remains serviceable. There is no justification for auctioning them. Doing so will decapitate the CBDA and destroy the agricultural value chain in our state,” Zulum said in a statement Monday issued by the Ministry of Information and Internal Security.
The CBDA was established to harness Lake Chad Basin resources for irrigation, water supply, electricity, and animal husbandry. Its board was recently reconstituted by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to accelerate food security and rural livelihoods in the North East.
Zulum listed equipment targeted for “auction” as irrigation stations, booster plants, drilling rigs, power generators, tractors, bulldozers, combine harvesters, pipelines, and crop processors — all in working condition.
“While the Federal Government is working to defeat Boko Haram, resettle displaced persons, and revive agriculture, some vendors are working to frustrate that vision,” he said. “Borno people will not allow anyone to cart away our public assets.”
The governor linked illegal metal scavenging around Lake Chad to terrorism, stating the trade is “either conducted by, or connected to, Boko Haram and ISWAP fighters operating in the Lake Chad Basin, Sambisa Forest, and Timbuktu Triangle.”
“It would be an irony to allow the vandalism of state assets to fund Boko Haram/ISWAP,” Zulum said. “Metal scavenging will only strengthen insurgency, criminality, and undermine national security.”
He reiterated Borno’s ban on scrap metal trading, noting the business is used “by clandestine elements tied to BH/ISWAP as a cover to vandalize and sell serviceable equipment.”
Zulum called on the Presidency and Federal Ministry of Water Resources to direct CBDA management to cancel the auction, and urged security agencies to protect CBDA facilities statewide.
“As we recover from a decade of insurgency, we must preserve and refurbish these assets to serve as the agricultural and industrial backbone of our state,” he added.
