As the state begins to get back to normal after the devastating flood, governor forms committee to devise a framework to ‘sanitise the scavenging business’ and provide jobs to thousands of youths.

When Borno State governor Babagana Umara Zulum banned scrap metal scavenging in July last year, thousands of people – many of them youths – lost their only means of making a living.

Zulum’s reasoning was pretty sound. A number of scrap metal scavengers had been killed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) they had unknowingly picked up among the other metal. Also, some collectors were accused of vandalising private and government enterprises to get scrap metal which they sold to dealers.

“These acts of metal scavenging can be considered as economic sabotage against both the federal and state governments,” Zulum said at the time, adding that the state had lost valuable property worth millions of naira.

He said he was concerned about the destructive behaviour exhibited by the scavengers who had caused substantial damage to both public and private properties.

The ban included all forms of informal and unregulated metal recovery activities, including the dismantling, collection and transportation of scrap metals.

In the past, there had been several explosions in markets and other public places because IEDs had unknowingly been collected among the scrap metal.

For those who relied on scrap metal scavenging, Zulum’s announcement came as a major blow because they depended on it for their livelihoods.

Now Zulum has had a rethink.

Taking into account the high rate of unemployment, particularly among the youth, and the cost-of-living crisis, exacerbated by the devastating flood that displaced more than 400,000 and left Maiduguri – the capital of Borno State – and its environs in a parlous state, Zulum established a committee to review the ban on metal scavenging.

In a statement released by Abdurrahman Ahmed Bundi, the senior special adviser to the state government on new media, Zulum said the committee would devise a framework that would “sanitise the scavenging business”.

The committee comprises representatives from the army, police, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Department of State Services, the Borno State Environmental Protection Agency, the ministries of justice, trade investment and tourism, information and internal security, sports youth empowerment and poverty alleviation, local government and emirates affairs, the Borno State chapter of the Association of Metal Scavengers, and the secretary to the state government.

Zulum said that despite the “negative things” associated with scrap metal scavenging activities, it could provide a livelihood for numerous youths and that was why it was important to sanitise the business so that it could run in an organised and efficient way.

“It will create thousands of job opportunities for the youth of Borno State.”

Earlier this year, the National Association of Scrap and Waste Dealers’ Employers of Nigeria appealed to the Borno State government to lift the ban.

Aminu Hassan Soja, the regional president, said: “The association calls on the government to form a stakeholders’ committee which will comprise experts and professionals in different aspects of human endeavours to prepare an operational blueprint for scrap and waste activities in the state.”

He said that lifting the ban would revive the economy of the state, corporate entities and individuals.

“The ban has crippled the economy of a significant number of individuals, firms and corporate entities within and outside the state and it is threatening the survival of numerous law-abiding citizens especially at this awful moment of economic and financial hardship.

“Scrap and waste remain indispensable raw materials for the production and fabrication of different essential products and commodities locally and internationally.”

Abubakar Ibrahim, a scrap metal scavenger in Maiduguri, told RNI that the ban “completely crippled” many people who depended solely on the business to cater for their families and relatives.

“I grew up in this business. I started collecting scrap metal when I was a youngster. We search all over Maiduguri and its environs for scrap metal. Once we have collected a big load, we sell it to scrap metal companies which process the materials to produce useful equipment.

“This is how we have always made a living. This business is crucial to us – it enables us to support our friends and relatives and cater to their needs.

“I even paid my children’s school fees from the money I made. When the government imposed the ban, my children had to stop going to school. I can no longer afford the fees. My family goes hungry because I can’t make a living.

“It has been an extremely difficult time for all of us. I have been doing odd jobs to try to make some money. We are hoping that now there is a committee looking into the scrap metal business, things will go back to normal.

“Thousands of people – mostly youths – lost their livelihoods when the ban was imposed. The government did not assist us. We were left to struggle to feed our families. All we want to do is work. If we can go back to collecting metal, we will be able to look after our families as we did before the ban.”

Abubakar Mohammad is a scrap metal dealer in Maiduguri. He told RNI that he was one of many people who had invested millions of naira in the scrap metal scavenging business, popularly known as Ajaokuta.

“Before the government imposed the ban, I had at least 40 young people working for me. But overnight, the business came to a standstill when the ban was imposed with immediate effect in July last year.

“Thousands of people lost their livelihoods. It particularly affected the youths. The ban was immediate. One day we had jobs, the next we didn’t. There was no warning.

“The government accused the scavengers of stealing public property. But the 40 young people who worked for me did not steal anything. We did not deal in stolen property. It was scrap, all scrap. They collected it from waste disposal sites and dumps.

“When the ban was imposed, many youths abandoned the business and left Maiduguri and the state. They went to places like Lagos and Kano, where they could still make a living.”

Mohammad said he had not given up hope.

“I invested a lot of money into my business. Many of my trucks are loaded with scrap metal ready to be exported when the ban is lifted.

“I hope things will go back to normal soon. It is a lucrative business and it provides jobs for many people. We are waiting patiently to hear what the committee says. Our fate is in their hands.”

SHETTIMA LAWAN MONGUNO