Volunteers rescue Bulunkutu’s submerged graveyard

• …as vandals steal solar inverter

Volunteers and attendants at the cemetery in Bulunkutu, Maiduguri, have embarked on the repair of graves that are being eroded as a result of heavy rainfall.

The leader of the volunteers, Aminu Ibrahim, said youths in the neighbourhood resolved to repair the graves that have collapsed as a result of erosion.

He said it was a  normal occurrence during the rainy season when water collects over time in the area.

“Most of the graves are being swept by the rains while others have depressions caused by soil erosion. Some of us living in the neighbourhood of Bulunkutu resolved to work together to repair the affected graves.

“We ask for donations to buy sand and items needed to fix the cemetery; we bought a lorry load of masonry sand for N17,000 yesterday (Sunday) to fill the sunken graves or depressions,” Ibrahim said.

He said another segment of the graveyard is being threatened by the floods because of the absence of drains. He said heavy rainfall has left some graves completely submerged.

“Look at the graves over there, flooding has left them submerged and unless a drainage is constructed at the other side of the fence, it is difficult to tend to the graves there after a heavy rainfall.”

Ibrahim also said the attendants, who are not receiving any payment for the work they do, are seeking donations to raise the height of the wall and also buy a solar water pump inverter.

“There is a borehole in the graveyard dug by the state government and the water supply system was working until six weeks ago when it stopped when the inverter, was stolen,” he said.