Geidam residents lament as military shuts down fuel stations

Residents of Geidam are lamenting another difficulty they are now facing following the shutting down of petrol stations in the town by the military.

Geidam is the epicenter of commercial activities seated along the border with Niger Republic and some towns of Borno State.

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The community suffered when insurgents burnt down the main market leading to the loss of millions on naira in cash and goods.

The residents further suffered a loss of their income soon after recovering from the loss caused by the insurgents as the military closed down business at the market.

Since then life has been difficult to many businessmen and their dependents who had been rendered jobless and poor by the circumstance.

After making several efforts to restore the lost glory of people living around, Governor Buni was able to secure the re-opening of the market about a year now.

But just as people were about picking up their lives, the situation is set to worsen as the military ordered the closure of all the fueling stations in the town and the environs.

The measure, though not the first time, has begun taking its toll on businesses and farmers who are about harvesting their produce.

A resident in the area, Umar Geidam, told Kanem Trust that the ban on fueling stations for about five days now has affected thousands of jobs.

“We have hundreds of youths who engage in operating tricycles, who have now resorted to sitting at home because they could not get fuel to work.

“The cost of local transport within the town has now jumped from between N30 and N50 per drop to N100 irrespective of the distance.  Cost of travel from Geidam to other locations has skyrocketed and even the water vendors have hiked their prices because of the fuel scarcity. People are just suffering,” he added.

Umara Goni an irrigation farmer said he could not visit his vegetable and wheat farm for the past three days.

“We cannot fuel our engines to water our crops. I am afraid if this continues we will lose a lot from the farm, government should come to our aid.”

Barbers and grinding machine operators are also affected as they rely on fuel to work due to unstable electricity supply in the area.

Hospitals are also affected as people stop getting access to their essential services.

The Director Personal Management, who is the acting chairman of the council, Baffa Adamu disclosed that he received communication from the Brigade Commander on closure of all the fueling stations.

According to him such actions  may not be unconnected with security known to security agencies.

However, an official  of the council, who does not want to be named, said though the intent of the military might be good, it came at a wrong time.

He said: “If you look at how youths thronged the EndSARS protest in the country you won’t joke with anything that would tamper with their source of livelihood. Though we are trying our best to stop them from any protest anything can happen if the ban continues.

He insisted that the ban on fueling station has  brought an  untold hardship on the lives of people because there was no alternative offered by the government.

He said people travelled up to 50 kilometres to get fuel and sometime returned without getting anything.

The army spokesman couldn’t be reached for comment about the issue but a source within the military said the measure followed “a directive received from above’,’ insisting that it was based on security information.

The spokesman of Governor Buni, Mamman Mohammed, said government was aware of the development.

He said the measure though very hard was placed based on the security intelligence  and it was in the best interest of the people.

He appealed to people to bear with the temporary situation as government is working closely with the security operatives to ensure reopening of the stations as soon as possible.