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

My binoculars: Posthumous
celebration of Principal Akinwale Obafunso Beckley at 94

By: Bodunrin Kayode

If he was still alive he would be 94 today having been born in February 18th 1931. He would obviously be involved in his passion of playing the organ as long as his fingers and dexterity of age can carry him. But he may not be able to stand for long before a class to teach mathematics which was his best subject. He may have completed his proposed mathematics text books which he was trying to arrange from handouts he created while teaching the subject in Freetown, Sierra Leone. It was over there he cut his teeth in the education sector as a maths and physics teacher in several schools including the Rokel, Colligate and the Freetown Secondary School for Girls FSSG where he was the Vice Principal. Born Akinwale Obafunso Beckley in the railway quarters Yaba Lagos, my father had a sound command of the English and latin languages. He was a polyglot who could speak almost all the major Nigerian languages most of which he picked while traversing the country with his father a railway clerk. His stay in Wusasa Zaria during holidays gave him and all of his siblings the opportunity to converse freely in Hausa which was the second language at home , whenever they were with themselves.

He actually traveled to the Fourah Bay College (FBC) to study after his sixth form in Ibadan Grammar school but while there he got another admission letter to study medicine at the University of Ibadan (UI) but he turned it down and held on to his sojourn in Freetown where he graduated with a double honors in maths and physics. Back then his certificate was affiliated to the University of Durham in England. FBC he told me once was affiliated with Durham University in England from 1876 to 1967. So some of his supervisors actually came down from England to see them in Freetown. But the institution is now a constituent College of the University of Sierra Leone. He met my mum in the faculty of education where he was studying and they got married and started their life’s journey by having me and seven younger ones.

On return to Nigeria in 1979, he continued his passion which was teaching. He was also a humanist and an active member of the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS). A professional organization in Nigeria made up of principals of post-primary schools in Nigeria. And that made him a Comrade among older principals who he sat within usual congress meetings in Abeokuta. He was a fighter for what was right amongst teachers and his colleagues Principals then and did his best for their welfare. Some of his colleagues used to visit the principal’s house where we lived then with him and my mum growing up and concentrating on our studies. Teachers were poorly rewarded in those days but that was his calling so he was not perturbed and rather continued unhindered adding farming to put food on our table. He had a loyal partner in my mum who was also a teacher who spurred him on in their calling which was about imparting knowledge.

Contribution to MPHS and Yewaland

Baba Akinwale Obafunso Beckley was an exceptional educationist who believed in the progress of all those who passed through him. He was a fighter for education to penetrate Yewaland the way it had in egba and ijebu senatorial zones of Ogun State. And that was why he fought against the way young people were dropping out of schools due to several vices including encouraged teenage pregnancies and some parents looked helplessly.

I recall he was once commended by the then “Olokeodan of Oke Odan” who said in a commendation letter that his advent to Yewaland was a devine one and that he must keep the good work. This was because he was quite meticulous with his reforms in the young Muslim Progressive High School (MPHS) where he was posted. And this resulted in a lot of rebellion from some sections of the parents teachers association (PTA) members who were not too comfortable with some of his policies. But he kept on pushing because what he was doing was in line with the free education policy of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. The late sage who introduced free education in western Nigeria then warned against truancy and Baba picked up truants on the road if he catches any one. As a matter of fact this was one of the policies he used to announce himself at the MPHS when working with Baba Amousofi as Principal.

Baba Beckley earned a lot of enemies among parents because of his big stick policies of “suspension and expulsion” where necessary of students who were completely unruly in school. No student was allowed to disrespect any teacher with impunity. He made us his students to know in the morning school assembly that lateness was a big wrong which he will not tolerate. For these reasons, he was called all sorts of names by rebellious students and sometimes teachers who did not like his style some of which he carried over from good schools he had worked in Freetown. Baba actually spent the remaining of his middle age life in Yewaland contributing in transforming a lot of restless boys and girls into stable adults. He took special liking for so many students who were hard working and the entire football team which gave us balanced entertainment whenever it was time for recreational activities.
Many teachers however supported him like Mr Adeleye who was teaching Yoruba, Mr Adeshina English language and serving as one of his Vice Principals and many others including Ghanians who were in the staff room then.

Journey through the Nigerian schooling system

Education had the same challenges across the west coast of Africa so my father was not a visitor to the system. We his kids were the ones trying to assimilate. All of us his children had to miss one academic year when we returned before he could fix us up in schools after securing a fresh employment from the Ogun State government. We lived in Abeokuta for a while in the house of my uncle Akani Beckley while trying to fuse into our ancestral roots in Abeokuta. We lived with our cousins in one big house. One of them Soji Beckley has taken after him in the education sector as one of the respected Principals in Ogun State today. My kid sisters ‘Tinuke and ‘Dolapo are also teachers and musicians. They decided to teach from scratch following after his pattern. For the rest of us, teaching was a no go area.

We were resting quietly at Abeokuta one day in the house of Uncle Akani at ita Oshin area of Abeokuta when Baba returned home with news that he had been engaged in the then egbado division of the state. And he was to resume in Oke Odan as the Vice Principal of the MPHS. That was in 1981. The school had a low image problem before he resumed. So he was given matching orders by the zonal education officer (ZEO) to go work with the Principal to restore sanity and raise the standards. And that he did raising the bar for excellence very high.
On resumption as the Vice Principal, those of us kids qualified to be in the secondary school were all admitted in that school. I opted for egbado College but he said no. Coincidentally, he became my Principal in that secondary school and at home. It was not easy because we could not be found wanting for anything that was labeled wrong. He was a stickler for discipline and academics. And I was to believe that was why my uncle Akani insisted that my cousin Soji must join us. And another uncle late Pastor Adeyanju also sent his daughter to benefit from the improved standard in the school.

The very backward standard Baba met in the school then was transformed to an enviable standard and by 1983 he became the Principal after the retirement of Mr Amosofi who was from Cotonou and had to return home. “Baba” as he was fondly called resumed management of the school at a time when Yewaland was also the most backward region in the state with young people contented mostly in concentrating on making quick cash through smuggling at the myriads of border loopholes at Alari, Ilase, Tube, idiroko and even Ipokia. There was so much cash in smuggling that young people looked down on education thinking it was boring and tedious. These were his lamentations at home at times when he would spend time talking to us to conform to the right way by studying hard. He applied the same sermons at the assembly grounds. He would spend several hours at the Assembly grounds working on the minds of students to take their education seriously. I was astounded when he made me library perfect because I knew his standards were too high for me. But he talked all the prefects into the rudimentary expectations that went with the task. And became mentors to many who used to visit the house to announce their admissions into higher institutions to study. He was always sad when a student would avoid school due to any reason at all. And would always help out to ensure the student returns.

Baba de-emphasized corporal punishment a bit for seniors to working in the school farm when it was necessary. He made sure that seniors did not bully the junior classes incessantly without justification. As the principal he wanted all to learn under a conducive atmosphere devoid of intimidation which was pervasive before he took charge of the school.

For us his kids, he was Principal in school and at home. Virtually no difference between the two. Baba was compelling when it comes to the differentiation between wrong and right. Always reminding the assembly that he would be out of this world one day and we the students would be left to face the vagaries of the state and country as leaders of tomorrow.

Interactions with his teachers

As far as I could recall, he had a very cordial relationship with his teachers when he was the Principal. Of course there were altercations with one or two renegades whom I would hear him talking to my mum about after the days service to humanity while we were at home. But as an extremely exposed man he surmounted all those challenges until he was transferred to Alari in 1985 to repeat his exploits of building young people through education. He spent only two years as Principal in Alari before leaving this world through a protracted illness. Sadly he answered to the call of eternity in October 1987 at 57. For us, he may have gone to meet his creator like others before him but he lived a good life by leaving indelible marks in the education sector where he was always at his best. Hundreds of students within two countries passed through him during his lifetime and he was always pleased to say that to us at his happy times for banters and serious talks with us.

Dear Papa, it’s been a long time you left and we have not given up on anything as you always taught us. It’s been a long battle with the vagaries and wickedness of this world. But we are tugging on with the Lord Almighty with us. Your footprints are still fresh in the MPHS and all my colleagues send their regards. They are all grown up men and women now baami.

Do enjoy your eternal sleep papa till we meet to part no more. Regards to Mama and Mabinu. By now you already know Mabinu has gone before us. I did my best but God Almighty knows best. Regards to Grandpa Benjamin Akinlawon and all our aunties and uncles we have been privileged to meet before they bowed out. O digba papa. Se mu zo.

I wish you were here for me to say happy birthday as I look at your Cotton wool white hair which started while you were in your fourties. Possibly hug you now that I am a grown up man and say thanks for your investment in us.
Happy birthday anyway Bami.

My binoculars: Posthumous
celebration of Principal Akinwale Obafunso Beckley at 94

REMEMBERING MY ONE YEAR STAY IN YOBE State

By Afolabi Gbajumo

Reminiscently, I was one of the first batches of Graduate Youth Corpers posted by NYSC in 1992 (33years ago)to the then newly-created Yobe State after the FGN carved it out from Borno State. We had our rigorous Camp Training consisting of graduates from various tertiary institutions in Nigeria and overseas at the Institute of Management Studies,Potiskum, headquarters of Fika Emirates.

One funny scenario was as if NYSC inadvertently desirous to fine-tune or re-charge my mentoring tutelage on human rights’ advocacy/struggles allied to my boss the Great Gani Fawehinmi, SAM, SAN (of Blessed Memory) whom we earlier in 1988 honoured revolutionarily with Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM) under our OAU Students’ Union at the then University of ife. (the Great Ife)

We equally started fighting for his release from the dreaded Gashua Prison the preceding few years in 1989 while I was in school. Surprisingly, NYSC posted me to the same Gashua where he was incarcerated which really gingered my spirit.

Incidentally, while some of our camp colleagues were pressing frivolous buttons of “man-know-man,” at the top echelon of NYSC for reposting from that very..very.. far-North back to the South, I deliberately in principle, refused that corrupt practice by preferring to spend my youth service year in Yobe state.
This was because I believed in conscientious sacrifice giving rise to true developmental interest of our dear Nigeria and Africa as a whole. Hence, without any objection or influencing anything,I, and another Great Ife colleague Bunmi Adamolekun moved to where we were posted for our primary duties and we were to serve as Lecturers at the College of Education, Gashua (COEGA),Yobe State (now Federal University).

Indeed, the terrain over there in the North-East Nigeria was quite arid with a lot of sand making it look almost like a desert. But the good news then was that there was no boko haram terrorists plying the Savanna.
Observably, however,I saw the build-up to that gangsterism from the body language of a huge number of under-aged innocent children thrown to the streets as beggars devoid of any parental or societal care in what they tagged “almajiri” (literally meaning the wandering disciples in quest of Islamic knowledge) wandering around the streets. I painstakingly initiated efforts to assist in reducing that menace by introducing an enlightening forum aimed at solving the issue of almajiri through a compulsory course named Citizenship Education I lectured in that COEGA.

There was a slight resistance from one of my students Usman a little older than others in the over100 of them students in that NCE 1 class who even boasted that he was 25-year-old and his male children were already almajiris in another place.But I was able to convincingly neutralize that slight resistance with my knowledge of the Qur’an and Islam which he was parochially referring to as source of that wandering syndrome.
But I enlightened him and others by bringing out my own Qur’an in Arabic as a practicing Muslim and told him to show me and the entire class where Allah (SWT) want him to surfer his male under-aged children of 5 to 9 years-old to travel far away to fend for themselves in a strange environment from where him the father/parent was residing.That almajiri syndrome was and is still the trend in virtually all parts of where I traversed in the north e.g.Katsina, Sokoto,Zamfara, Niger, Kaduna, Kano,
Jigawa, Yobe and Borno States. I was in Gashua (Bade LGA Hqtrs., Damaturu( Yobe Capital), Potiskum, Nguru, Jajere, Dapchi,etc., and Maiduguri the Borno State Capital including UNIMAID and traces of these kids roaming about for food was all over the place.

Funnily,as a youth Corp member 33 years ago,each of us received stipend allowances of #350 monthly in the midst of rising costs of living under the SAP economic policy of the barbaric regime of Gen.Babangida (rtd.) that ‘sapped’ the country since then.

Myself and other Corp members had to orchestrate legitimate protest agitating for increment to #1,000 before the jackboot regime had to jack-up our ‘allowance’ from N350 to N700 only.

Meanwhile, because the so-called “leaders” in government enjoyed diverting resources that ought to be used in helping those innocent kids educationally, socially and faithfully to be better in life from that tender age while they sent their own male and female children with those diverted commonwealths to better schools and trainings at developed cities at home and abroad.

What emanated from that experience rallied with my foresighted prediction while in Yobe based on those intimidating facts on the ground about those abandoned kids 33 years ago.There and then I said a time will come when those abandoned kids will be used by evil-minded elements to foment future calamities which later occurred unbearably since 2009 (16 years ago) till date when the so-called boko haram ( meaning western education is forbidden and condemning formal education) sprang-up their terrorisms like hell fireworks in that Borno then it spread to Yobe and then Adamawa States. Other variants and fall-outs of such violent-killers-crime today are banditry, abduction for ransom,cultism,rape, etc.

Final solution is simply that the so-called ‘leaders’ in the North, and across Nigeria, should stop diverting money and resources meant to sustainably educate,grow, develop, employ and productively engage the younger ones and others so as to finally abolish the present and future disasters of having a huge population of criminally enthrenched citizens and ‘leaders’ mis-governing the resourcefully-destined assets of Nigeria so that everyone will be pleasant to live in peace and not pieces that we have to-date.

REMEMBERING MY ONE YEAR STAY IN YOBE State