Boko Haram: Businesses want allowances for JTF, communication with grassroots
The business community in the troubled north-east of Nigeria is rooting for special allowances for the civilian members of the Joint Task Force (JTF) who are assisting Nigerian soldiers in fighting the Boko Haram sect.
The group is also asking the Federal Government for the deployment of more soldiers and high-grade arms and ammunition to protect the people, as well as businesses and investments, 60 percent of which have been destroyed by Boko Haram insurgents.
While also calling on the assistance of the Nigerian private sector to support the fight financially, the business community further urges better liaison between the Federal Government and the local community, including traditional rulers, youths, local politicians and vigilante groups, to rejuvenate agriculture and small-scale businesses, which have been adversely affected by insurgency and stampedes.
“We want the Federal Government to support the local civilians who are in the forefront of the fight to save the region and the country,” Abdurahaman Modibbo Girei, president, Adamawa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told BusinessDay in an exclusive interview.
“What we need is to support our local leaders and better arm soldiers and vigilante groups. We want better communication and information management among these groups,” Girei said.
He further said business activities were at a low ebb in 2014, as productivity and sales were abysmally low, while many workers left the state for Kano, Kaduna and other less hostile states.
Girei said manufacturing firms such as Faro Bottling Company, Bajabure Industrial Complex, among others, recorded low sales, while inter-town transportation was very costly for the people.
He said insecurity was highest in Michika and Madagali, stressing that there was a heavy influx of internally displaced persons from the two areas into less hostile areas, adding that goods such as guinea corn, vegetables, yams, rice and others, were not allowed to be exported to Cameroon, owing to the fact that the borders were shut.
He further said telephone lines and facilities were vandalised in Michika, Madagali, Maiha, Gombi, Mubi North and Mubi South in 2014.
Shettima Bukar Jallaba, director-general, Yobe Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told BusinessDay that the insurgency has been worsened by the capture of Geidam, the local government of the state governor. He said businesspeople have been affected adversely, as Geidam borders Borno and Yobe states, as well as Niger Republic and was a trade hub in the north-east region. Jallab said he did not see the possibility of conducting successful elections in the three states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa.
Jallaba rated businesses in 2014 in the troubled state very low, as there were no longer access roads to Gulani, Gujba and other areas. He said hundreds of farmers were sacked, while their crops have been vandalised by insurgents, owing to incessant alarms, false and real.
He further stated that communication and information technology were at the lowest ebb, as telecoms companies such as MTN, Glo, Airtel and Etisalat were not functional in some local governments such as Gujba and Gulani in Yobe state, as their facilities were vandalised, while phone lines were cut off in some areas, for security reasons.
He further said that export of agricultural produce to Cameroon, Chad, Benin Republic and other West African countries were crippled within the year.
Remi Bello, president, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), urged the Federal Government to improve security in the region, as the tempo of economic activity there has declined, while access to the markets by companies in the southern part of the country has reduced, resulting in loss of sales and income.
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