Six years after scavengers, otherwise known as ‘baban bola’ were banned from moving around residential neighbourhoods in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) due to security concerns, residents still deal with thefts and violent attacks perpetrated by members of this group.
On Wednesday, May 15, 2024, the FCT police public relations officer (PPRO) Josephine Adeh disclosed in a statement that a group of scavengers were arrested for attempting to steal valuables and carrying out violent attacks on residents of Byazhin, Kubwa.
According to the PPRO, violence erupted in the area after the group of scavengers waylaid passersby and attempted to dispossess them of their valuables.
“A courageous lady resisted, leading to a violent attack by the hoodlums, resulting in severe machete injuries. The FCT Police Command swiftly responded to the situation and arrested several suspects currently being interrogated to ascertain their complicity or otherwise,” the statement read.
According to a report, three people, including two women and a boy, died in the clash after a scavenger attempted to steal from a woman but was overpowered and beaten up by residents.
The scavenger returned to the neighbourhood with a group of men wielding weapons and killed the woman he had attempted to rob and two others.
This is not the first time the activities of scavengers in the FCT have raised security concerns for residents.
In 2018 the FCT administration restricted scavengers to approved dumpsites over these issues.
The FCTA Secretary, Social Development Secretariat at the time, Ladi Hassan, also said public utilities had been vandalised in robbery incidents traced to scavengers.
“Baba bolas are to operate only at the Gousa, Karshi, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kwali, Abaji and Kuje approved dumpsites as opposed to moving from one neighbourhood to another collecting waste objects across the city of Abuja,” Hassan had said.
However, inadequate enforcement of these restrictions has left residents at risk of violent attacks, thefts, or other security issues.
In 2021, The ICIR reported that scavengers could still be spotted roaming around neighbourhoods in the FCT, including the city centre, Abuja.
Similarly, in another report in 2022 by this organisation, it was learnt that the baban bola group and others were responsible for the theft of several missing manholes on highways in the city.
“Some scavengers masquerade as baban bola, but it is a lie. They peep through people’s compounds and break into homes, especially in the remote communities in the FCT,” a resident Omoniyi ‘Tayo said.
Omoniyi averred that he had seen the scavengers mobilise their members at night to attack whoever offended them.
“I saw them in Zamani along the Airport Road. There was a time in 2022 when baban bola descended on the people of the village because the residents were opposed to their heinous activities.
“There have also been reports of attacks by the group in the Lugbe area of the FCT. They are in several villages and constitute a security threat wherever they operate. Most times that residents have fought them, they have often seen valuable items in their bags which they stole,” Omoniyi added.
The Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) confirmed to The ICIR that the ban on the group was still in place and efforts were being made to enforce it.
The ICIR reports that until recently, Abuja had almost become unsafe for residents as activities of criminals, including kidnappers, thieves, once-chance syndicates and others escalated in the city.
As of the time the FCT former police commissioner Sadiq Idris Abubakar, assumed office on December 23, 2022, residents were already panicking because of the extent of rising cases of insecurity in the city.
But the FCT residents appear to have heaved a sigh of relief and enjoyed some peace after its incumbent minister, Nyesom Wike, and commissioner of police, Benneth Igwe, came hard on the criminals.
In addition to other strategies to contain criminalities in the city, including treating one-chance syndicates as criminals, Wike promised the police N20 million to apprehend two notorious kidnappers terrorising the FCT.
The police arrested the kidnappers within days after the minister announced his bounty.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.