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From Tony Osauzo, Benin
The Edo State Public Property Protection Committee has decried the mass attack and vandalisation of government and individual property by scavengers for iron metals who are members of the Arewa community.
Chairman of the Committee Eugene Okoloise raised the alarm while briefing journalists on the activities of his committee, particularly highlighting the havoc the Arewa scavengers were causing to public infrastructure in the state.
He announced that the Committee arrested six scavengers, popularly known as ‘condemn iron’, while they were vandalising state-owned infrastructure in Benin City.
He said to restore sanity in Benin City, the state capital, the Committee has given a 21-day ultimatum to Arewa people in the Lagos Street moat and its environs—the majority of whom are scavengers—to vacate the area and seek proper accommodation.
Okoloise, who addressed journalists along with the Chairman of the Arewa Community in Edo State and leaders of the scrap dealers, warned that the state government will no longer tolerate any form of vandalism on state infrastructure.
“The ones that we arrested are in the police station; they are going to be charged to court on Monday. And they will be made to face the music. We have about six of them arrested.
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“We cannot continue like this. We cannot say because we don’t want people to say that they are being marginalised we allow them to be attacking the state infrastructure. We will not allow it. It’s not going to happen in this state. We have accepted them; they are one of us, but that doesn’t mean we leave them to destroy infrastructure.
On the Arewa living on the Lagos Street moat and its environs, Okoloise said: “We have given them 21 days to go and look for house. I grew up in the North. We had our houses then. We rented our apartments. You cannot be living inside the moat, and you expect us to even refer to you as a human being.”
He narrated how the scavengers vandalise public property and, in particular, lamented the damage they have done to Fabiyi Akpata Primary School, Benin.
“They’ve sold all the chairs, sold the roofing sheets. We equally want to use this opportunity to speak on their behalf; to talk to their co-members that if you want to trade in these things in the state, go to them and contribute to fix the school. They must fix it. If they don’t fix it, they should forget about it. They should forget about doing their business in the state. Because it’s getting out of hand.”
Responding, the Chairman of the Scrap Dealers Association in Edo State, Alhaji Abbas Garuba, said they have put in place modalities to check the activities of those who are not members of the association.
“Now, we have given working hour to our members. On weekdays, including Saturday, it is 7 am to 7 pm; anyone who comes out before this time is not from us and anyone who is seen after 7 pm is illegal. And we have mandated our members not to work on Sunday, because we have noticed that it is Sunday that they used in stealing people’s iron. On Sunday, we gather them and talk to them,” Garuba disclosed.
