Borno State Governor, Babagana Umara Zulum, has raised alarm over an alleged plan to auction critical agricultural and industrial equipment belonging to the Chad Basin Development Authority (CBDA), warning that such a move could undermine efforts to revive agriculture and resettle communities affected by insurgency in the Northeast.
In a statement issued in Maiduguri, Zulum accused unnamed individuals of attempting to dispose of valuable CBDA assets under the guise of scrap metal sales. He described the development as economic sabotage and called on the Federal Government and the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to halt any planned auction immediately.
The governor argued that the equipment, which includes tractors, bulldozers, irrigation facilities, drilling machines, electricity generators, pipelines and crop-processing machinery, remains functional and plays a crucial role in supporting agricultural activities across the region.
According to him, removing the equipment from operational sites would cripple the authority’s ability to deliver on its mandate and weaken ongoing efforts to improve food production, rural development and economic recovery in the Lake Chad Basin.
Zulum noted that the Federal Government recently reconstituted the management of the CBDA to strengthen food security and accelerate development in the region. He said selling the equipment would contradict those objectives and jeopardise investments already made in agricultural recovery.
The governor also linked scrap metal activities to increasing cases of vandalism, warning that proceeds from the illegal sale of public infrastructure could end up supporting criminal networks operating in insurgency-prone areas around the Lake Chad Basin, Sambisa Forest and the Timbuktu Triangle.
Reaffirming his administration’s ban on scrap metal operations in Borno State, Zulum vowed that no individual or group would be allowed to remove public assets from the state. He stressed that the equipment is essential to rebuilding the economy and restoring livelihoods after years of conflict.
He further called on the military and other security agencies to increase surveillance around CBDA facilities and strategic installations to prevent vandalism and ensure government assets are protected.
The governor maintained that preserving the authority’s equipment is critical to ongoing efforts to transform the Lake Chad Basin into a major agricultural hub and sustain long-term economic recovery in northeastern Nigeria.
