The Borno State Government under the leadership of Babagana Zulu has sacked the camp chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency, Abbah Tor for allegedly stealing at least 30 water tanks meant for Bama Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp.
Zagazola Makama, a counterinsurgency expert and security analyst in the Lake Chad region disclosed this in a post on his X handle on Monday, explaining that the stolen tanks were water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities meant for internally displaced persons living in the camp.
Zagazola said a UNICEF report he sighted indicated that it had provided access to safe water for 11,5204 IDPs in Bama and a total of 2,800 IDPs accessed sanitation through the construction of 16 VIP latrines with handwashing stations, 40 emergency latrines and 20 bath shelters in Bama Primary Health Care and MCH clinics in Bama LGA.
Zagazola, however, noted that despite efforts made by UNICEF towards increasing access to safe water, rehabilitating WASH facilities, restoring critical WASH infrastructure and promoting good hygiene practices to reduce the risk of WASH-related morbidity in Bama, some people had been sabotaging the efforts.
It was also learnt that out of the 40 boreholes that were earmarked for installation, only 10 were installed with most of them currently not dispensing water. The remaining 30 tanks that were kept at the UNICEF clinic were diverted and put in the custody of the police in Bama.
During his visit to the camp, Governor Zulum informed the IDPs that Mr Abbah Tor was one of the people who had been stealing from them and told him never to return to the camp.
Giving more details on the issue, Zagazola wrote: “One Umar, a staff of @UNICEF, working in the WASH Department in Bama, collaboration with Ali Mala, from the Borno State Borno Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASA), approached Abbah Toh, the SEMA camp Chairman of Bama IDPs camp and Bakura Shettima of SEMA, with the deal to divert and sell the water facilities.
“Both Abbah Tor, Ali and Bakura Shettima accepted the deal but one of the camp officials who did not accept to be part of the deal questioned them why the items meant for the IDPs should be taken out of the camp to somewhere else.
“Umar (UNICEF official) told him that he was sent from the office to investigate the boreholes that were not working. The camp official took him around and told him that three among the newly constructed boreholes were not dispensing water.
“He then told the camp official that he was going to transfer about 30 water tanks and iron stands to Shettimari Primary school in Bama town, and that others will be taken to Maiduguri while some of the items will be sold to pay the transporters conveying the items to the destinations.
“The SEMA staff, expressed fear and asked him to rethink the decision, but Umar insisted that the official should not worry himself over the issues as they had already concluded discussions with his boss, the camp Chairman, Abbah Tor and Ali Mala from RUWASA.
“At about 2:43pm, Umar and his collaborators came into the UNICEF clinic to pick up the borehole facilities.
“One Kaka Lawan, was already on standby waiting to pay in cash before the news started going round that some individuals had taken the tanks out of camp.
“The Councilor of Bama, Abdulrahman Busu, immediately swung into action and reported the case to the Police Divisional Office in Bama who immediately intercepted the stolen items and arrested Kaka Lawan.”
He added the suspect had been granted bail by the police while the investigation into the matter continued.