Borno LG Chairman Raises the Alarm over Closure of Farm Routes by Soldiers

Borno LG Chairman Raises the Alarm over Closure of Farm Routes by Soldiers

Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri

Caretaker Chairman of Monguno Local Government Area of Borno State, Gadau Ali, has raised alarm that the people of this council may be confronted with food shortage over the closure of farm routes by the personnel of the Nigerian Army.

Ali, who spoke to journalists yesterday, lamented that the military has closed six of the seven routes into Monguno town and prevented the people of the council from going out to farm.

He said all the farmlands in Monguno and all communities are inaccessible as the military had stopped people from going beyond Monguno town into other communities within the local government area.

According to him, “The military has closed six of the seven routes into Monguno and makes it difficult for our people to farm. The only route opened is the Maiduguri road. People of the council are only staying in Monguno or in Maiduguri. There is no person staying in the other communities in the local government.

“If the military has given permission for people in the local government to go out to farm, there won’t be shortage of food. The excuse the military personnel continue to give is that there are elements of Boko Haram around Monguno and that they cannot guarantee the security of our people farming.

“We have made several visitations to the military formations to allow our people to farm around the town. We told them that the vigilante and Civilian JTF will go round to ensure security, but they won’t just budge. This will create a great problem next year as food is going to be scarce. There may likely be food gap.”

Ali lamented that time was running out as rainy season was almost over, saying “we spoke to the governor (Babagana Zulum) about this and he promised to talk to the military.”

Related Articles