It is no longer news that thousands of farmers have been displaced and several others killed as they strive to work on their farms to provide basic foods for themselves and ultimately Nigerians. Ruth Tene Natsa visited the Pegni-Kuje community and shared the stories of abandoned internally displaced persons, whose farms are daily raided as they seek to stabilise from the horrors of the past.
Pegni-Kuje community, with its very bad roads, bordered by rich vegetation, is about 60 kilometres away from the thriving federal capital territory (FCT) and home to 130 households (all farmers) with their over 500 dependents, battling everyday realities of insecurity, high cost of living, and homelessness, among other challenging situations. They are just seeking to survive!
Originally displaced from the Chibok community of Borno State by Boko Haram, rather than the safety they sought, the IDPs have again fallen into the hands of killer herdsmen who continue to rob them of their hard work, leaving them hopeless.
Read also: Boko Haram kills four farmers in Borno community
It was a rainy Friday morning, and BusinessDay reporters’ visit to the IDP camp was almost truncated, as most inhabitants were on their farms, several kilometres away from their temporary homestead. This is despite the rains that had been unceasing in the previous days.
Interactions with some of the community members afforded our reporter the phone number of the wife of the secretary of the IDPs. A call placed to her was received by her daughter, 20-year-old Blessing Jacob, who promised to send the number of the Chairman of the IDPs. Several calls made to the chairman afterwards failed.
Shortly after the call, Blessing returned from the farm and shared her story with BUSINESSDAY. Speaking in Hausa, Blessing Jacob said she was only 13 years old and one of the abducted Chibok girls, who was lucky to get away from the kidnapped girls when her family moved to Pegni-Kuje.
According to her, “I was attending Federal Government Girls School Chibok when Boko Haram came and loaded us into their trucks. The driver told us that anyone with the mind (courageous enough) could jump out, but we didn’t because he was driving at a breakneck speed.”
“On getting to their hideout, I had told my friend that I would run away, but she was afraid and threatened to report me if I left. She was afraid because if one of us left, the other would be flogged. The morning after our kidnapping, I ran away, but the river had flooded up, and I had to run back to our kidnappers in fear. But after 3 days again, I ran away and was reunited with my family.”
The young woman lamented that since her return and their relocation to Abuja, life has not been easy. “Even the means to feed is difficult, and even the lands to farm are hard to come by, since we all have to rent from the locals. As it is, the little we can afford is just for feeding, we barely have enough to feed, how much more is selling off” she said.
BUSINESSDAY recalls that on the night of April 14–15, 2014, 276 mostly Christian female students aged 16–18 were kidnapped by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram from the Government Girls Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State. 57 of the schoolgirls escaped immediately following the incident by jumping from the trucks on which they were being transported, while a number of them have been rescued by the Nigerian Armed Forces on various
The story of young Charity is not the regular story of a young woman seeking the luxuries of modern life; for Charity, who spoke with deep sadness, the support of food and the promise of further education are her greatest heart desires.
Read also: Troops kill Boko Haram commander, Abu Rijab, recover arms in Borno
She told BUSINESSDAY that the federal government had supported them with scholarships through secondary school, which she had completed but, due to a lack of funds, is unable to train further. “Right now, I join my family on the farm to cultivate maize and groundnuts, and when I return, I cook and sell. She points to a wooden cold fireplace, where she is to resume her cooking business.”.
“As it is, farming within the community is still safe, but not when we have to go into the bush to farm. For those still at home, they tell us, it is much safer, but only within the communities.”
Blessing expressed her desire to attend a college of health or nursing to further her ambitions but appealed to the federal government of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and other good-hearted individuals to support her and her family with food.
Emmanuel Ibrahim, a farmer and okada rider, also shared his experience with BUSINESSDAY.
According to him, “I relocated from Borno in 2019 following the Boko Haram attacks. Initially, I planned to head to Lagos, but my friend encouraged me to remain in Pegni-Kuje, citing the high cost of living in Lagos.
In Borno we had to trek long distances to our farms, despite the cold or rains, and with the attendant security risks, I decided to take my family. Arriving in Abuja, I got space, including the lands to farm. I am not renting places to farm. We get on the mountains and plant for free, but to farm ground nuts, we have to rent or hire land.
He, however, lamented that the suffering here is great. “Just two days ago, my farm was attacked and my produce was raided. And it is not mine alone, because we do communal farming, but the Fulani herdsmen will just go in and invade our farms.
“This year, we suffered so much hunger because our farms had been raided and we hadn’t anything to eat, and this year again, they took their cows to other places, but learnt their cattle were raided, so they have returned to our part; sadly, their cattle destroy our crops.”.
Emmanuel, speaking to Businessday in an emotion-driven voice, said, “As of yesterday, when our farms were raided, we went to meet them, but they denied, insisting they weren’t the perpetrators; except if we catch them in the act, they will never own up.”.
Responding to the position that security had been much improved in Chibok and asked if he would return if it were so, he said, “We have been hearing so but not in all the places. As it is, farming within the community is still safe, but not when we have to go into the bush to farm. For those still at home, they tell us, it is much safer, but only within the communities.”
Meanwhile, Samuel Bulus, farmer and father of 8, who is also the vice chairman of IDP Kuje Area Council, who opened up to BUSINESSDAY on the challenges by his community, lamented that they had been abandoned by all in their misery.
Read also: Over 263 Boko Haram terrorists, families surrender to troopsaa
In his words, “The problems we faced that forced our migration were those of insecurity, by Boko Haram. In the past, we had support from both the government, non-governmental organisations, and individuals, but now we are left with no support. During the Jonathan Administration, the office of the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, supported us greatly with food and mattresses and even sent our children to school. Now they are done with their secondary education, but no further support to go further, no jobs, and nothing else to do.”
“Ngozi Okonjo Iweala did so much for us that if we could meet her again, we would go and express our gratitude, but we do not know where she is,” he reiterated.
According to Bulus, “In the Pegi community of FCT, where we currently are, we are faced with many challenges. In the farms, we are attacked by herdsmen, and their cows invade our farms. Currently, we have lost 3 of our children to this. In December 2023, one of our young men was killed on the farm. He confronted the herdsmen who were stealing his harvest, and there and then he was killed.”
“Currently the Fulani herdsmen are troubling us, and when we speak, they pull out machetes on us. If not for this, we are hard-working people with the strength to help ourselves, but the Fulani herdsmen will not let us be “
“We invest our savings, strength, and pesticides to farm, and cows are let in to eat them up. Currently, we have lost 3 farms and do not even have food to eat. We cannot afford to feed, and no matter how much more we pay school fees for our children, we also have issues with rent. When our rents expire, if we are unable to renew, we are ejected, and most times we have to move in with other families who still have their rents running.”
“There are reports that the security situation in Borno is much improved now, but if we return, we have to go to the outskirts to farm, which we cannot afford to do because our people are still kidnapped and killed when we go to our farms. When we call our people back home, we are warned to stay put here. Just recently, we learnt 3 of our people were killed on their farms. Sadly, we are killed in our homeland, and even here when we have come to seek refuge, we are killed, and we do not even know what to do again.
“We are appealing to the federal government and the FCTA to support us with accommodation, scholarships, and jobs for our children. I am a father of 8 children with two ageing parents who are full dependents. My father has been asking to return home to be killed rather than this continual displacement. Today we could be let here; tomorrow we could be displaced. He says he would rather be stable and be killed.”
Read also: Boko Haram abduct High Court Judge, wife others in Borno State
“In December we harvested our maize, but we were unable to transport it home and left it on the farm, but our farms were being raided. In the evening we decided to go check on our farms. On getting there, one of our members, whose farm adjoined ours, let out a shout. Before we got to his side of the farm, we heard a gunshot, and by the time we got to him, he was dead. His corpse was placed on his harvest.”
With the current security situation, some of our members have chosen to return home, insisting it is better they are killed in their homelands. He recalled they were 4 and the first set of IDPs to arrive in Pegni-Kuje in 2014. But one was killed by robbers and his bike was snatched.
Since the Goodluck Jonathan Administration, we have yet to get any support, and this has further made life more difficult for us. Several of our members are moving, searching for where they can get land for farming.
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