Features: Two years after the ajaokuta ban in Borno, insurgents and residents now scavenge for plastics and firewood

Features: Two years after the ajaokuta ban in Borno, insurgents and residents now scavenge for plastics and firewood

By: Bodunrin Kayode

“Ajaokuta” is the name of a council area in kogi state. But that is for those not living in north Eastern Nigeria. In North Eastern Nigeria, “Ajaokuta” is used to mean scrap metals both in kanuri and hausa. As a result any metallic material not useful like empty “can of soft drinks” or beer which can be turned into money by making aluminum pots or containers. Anything not usable again and condemned to the metal bin made from iron or aluminium is big money to both the boko haram insurgents and the residents who search for them as relics of war.

The scavenging for these scrapes however soon woke up the recycling industry which had been restricted to mostly can drinks before the advent of the war. So many vehicles, military and civilians which were abandoned in the bush where it got broken down and became impossible to tow out before the insurgents took over 21 council areas became ready scrap metals inside the savannah. Because nobody in his right senses will spend more than ten minutes inside insurgents territory without being killed during the peak of the crisis.

This was how ajaokuta became a reality in north east Nigeria and such scraps became money in the hands of these scavengers on both sides of the divide who knew its value. These desperate scavengers of scrap materials turned even discarded car parts in organized garages to big money. And it is for that instant cash that some internally displaced people (IDPs) decided to be making fast money from it 6. This is because most of them are confined to the Head Quarters of their council areas unable to farm and fish or make a living for themselves where necessary.

With the shut down of organized idp camps in the city of Maiduguri these residents these days are becoming restless since they can’t earn their living through farming which is their primary past times. They hardly sit down where they are confined in the hinterlands sub camps pending the end of the war. This is because most of them disregard the war situation that has been declared in the north east and insist on wanting to live normal lives while still surrounded by insurgents. Some entered the maiduguri idp camps years ago without a family and now they are back to their council area sub camps with many wives and children. And they don’t see why the Governor, Babagana Zulum was complaining recently about that.

Borno State has witnessed several skirmishes between the idps and the boko haram insurgents who equally look out for similar items for its commercial value to sell and feed their numerous harem of women and children with them in the bush. However, with the early clamp down on non governmental organizations (NGO’s) who were sympathetic to the cause of the insurgents in the name of balancing acts, it became harder for the terrorists to maintain their harems and their kids. They had to desperately look for alternative plans to survive especially with the factionalization of the jihadists. Indeed former theatre Commander, General Adeniyi once shut down about three NGO’s fingered in such sympathetic practices but they were later allowed to resume operations by some powers that were from Abuja. But what ever was trickling to the insurgents was completely cut off according to sources including the controversial mama Boko Haram who had unfettered access to their commanders through her foundation. So having been left high and dry in the bush, they too started sending their wards out to scavenge not only for ajaokuta but for abandoned plastic containers and firewood. This was meant to assist their bush economy which Adeniyi did not want to thrive even as they farmed and fished in the lake Chad axis unhindered.
Consequently, it was the scavenging for these items that used to bring lingering fracas between the IDPs and the insurgents.

The most bloody skirmish in recent times

Not too recently in Rann, the headquarters of Kala Balge the idps were said to have strayed several kilometers beyond where they were supposed to stay in search of these scraps which would amount to immediate cash once they meet the right dealers. Over 40 residents on a scrap metal scavenging spree were slaughtered by insurgents believed to be of the Islamic State of West Africa (ISWAP) stock. The killings which took place when ISWAP insurgents carrying rifles and knives rounded up a group of idps that were searching for scrap metals to sell for a living. About 47 of the scavenging camp residents who were looking for the “Ajaokuta ” were rounded up and slaughtered for daring into the known territories of the insurgents. That singular act of butchery sources told this reporter became very painful to the Governor Babagana Zulum who vowed to ban the activities of the residents and idps over ajaokuta. But are they really banned considering the fact that there are no specific check points monitoring it’s movements?

Transition to plastics and fire wood

After the banning, the idps usually confined within 5km of their council headquarters now settled for the used battered plastics trade which had existed long before the boko haram challenge started. The ajaokuta business goes on secretly in trickles because they hide them inside used plastic containers and bottles which the security points hardly bother about. Driving through the city of Maiduguri, heaps of plastics can now be seen around certain areas in outskirts like Gubio road, Baga road and several suburbs where cart pushers ask for so called condemned items to go sell. And these are weighed on scales and instant cash is awarded for those who are bold enough to penetrate Garbage bins and dump sites to get the plastics which are gathered like Ajaokuta.

Fire wood is equally not left out of the foraging business. As a matter of fact, firewood has become the second largest revenue earner for resident IDPs in the state capital. The camps may have closed officially but a lot of resident IDPs who live with relatives in the metropolis go hunt for firewood in the thick savannah and sell to residents most of whom have abandoned charcoal which moved from N3,000 to N10,000 a bag. This has forced many civil servants in the upper lower class to move down to fire wood as the new savior. So with firewood dumps in almost every crevice of the state now, it has become a safe alternative to these ajaokuta scraps some of which have become death traps because residents usually walk into improvised Explosive Devices (IEDS) planted by insurgents in the name of hunting for them. Many innocent souls have perished in that process.

However. If residents in key towns in the state must fulfill their destinies to generate enough revenue to feed themselves, since free feeding may be terminated this year, then fire wood scavenging has come to stay as a veritable index in fulfillment of their individual desires. Firewood and plastics have become a heavy source of bush market revenue which even the government can utilize in beefing up it’s internal revenue. The mantra of plant trees where others are felled can only apply where there is safety. Nobody can tell residents of tashan Kano and surrounding suburbs down to Bulumkutu who go into the nearby Molai bush to source for fire wood to plant one tree there. His or her business is to grab the wood and return back quickly before the armed men in the other side come out to look for theirs. That is the new slogan of the down trodden in Borno state.

Features: Two years after the ajaokuta ban in Borno, insurgents and residents now scavenge for plastics and firewood