BY: ABDULKADIR M LAWAN, JUNE 07, 2026/ 10:06AM
Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum, has urged the Federal Government to halt attempts by 'unscrupulous elements' to auction serviceable heavy equipment at the Chad Basin Development Authority (CBDA) premises and booster stations across Northern Borno.
He raised the alarm on the heels of the recent reconstitution of CBDA management by the federal ministry of water resources, a move aimed at resuscitating the agency’s mandate to boost irrigation farming, animal husbandry, water supply, and electricity in the Lake Chad Basin.
'It has come to the attention of the Borno State Government that some unscrupulous elements are attempting to cart away the heavy equipment domiciled at the CBDA premises and booster stations across Northern Borno in the name of scrap metal auctioning.
'The Federal Government procured this equipment at a high cost, and it is serviceable. There is no reason whatsoever to auction them, as doing so will decapitate the CBDA and cripple the agricultural value chain in our state,' he said.
Among the equipment reportedly targeted are irrigation stations, booster plants, drilling machines, electricity-generation facilities, tractors, bulldozers, combined harvesters, pipelines, and crop processors.
Gov. Zulum warned that removing them 'under any guise, will amount to decommissioning them and cannibalising the CBDA.'
The governor linked illegal metal scavenging to insecurity, saying the 'metal-scavenging fraternity is linked to Boko Haram insurgency' and ISWAP elements operating around Lake Chad Basin, Sambisa Forest, and Timbuktu Triangle.
He argued that allowing vandalisation of state assets would 'bolster insurgency and criminality' and 'sabotage national defence and security' at a time the FG is working to defeat insurgency and resettle IDPs.
'Borno State Government policy on scrap metals remains active. The scrap metals business is usually used by clandestine elements, who are remotely connected to BH/ISWAP, as a decoy to vandalise and sell serviceable equipment.
’We shall never allow any person or group to remove any metal from our state. We are recovering from a decade of insurgency, and we can service and recover our metals to serve as the agricultural and industrial backbone of our dear state,' he explained.
He therefore called on the presidency and the federal ministry of water resources to prevail on CBDA management to 'shelve the wrongful idea of auctioning equipment, assets and facilities.'
He also urged the military and law enforcement agencies to be vigilant around CBDA facilities to protect public resources.
The CBDA was established by the Federal Government to harness marine and agricultural resources of the Lake Chad Basin and drive rural livelihoods in Borno and the wider Northeast.