‘It would cost N3.5 billion to rebuild Bama town,’ says Rep

BAMA town in Borno State, which was on three different occasions “attacked and destroyed” by suspected Boko Haram gunmen this year, will require the sum of N3.5 billion to rebuild, says a National Assembly member, representing Bama/ Dikwa/Ngala Federal Constituency, Alhaji Abdurrahman Terab said on Sunday. The serial attacks in February, April and this month, claimed the lives of over 100 persons, including seven policeman and three soldiers, after the police station and Mobile Police Base were attacked with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petrol-bombs. The once viable commercial border town with Cameroun has not remained the same ever since the attacks as it remains desolate with many buildings dilapidated, while most of its residents fled to Konduga and Maiduguri, the state capital to take refuge. The town, which used to be one of the most populated in troubled Borno State with over 500,000 persons, now has a few thousand residents as people continue to flee. Terab told newsmen Sunday in Maiduguri that the state government cannot be left alone with the burden of rebuilding Bama as “it is massive” and will eat up a great chunk of the resources of the state. He, therefore, pleaded that the federal government should come to the aid of the once viable commercial town, insisting that Borno State was already burdened with the heavy load of rehabilitation of towns and villages destroyed by Boko Haram He also said that life has started returning to the town with the market, which was closed for five months, now opened and traders allowed to trade unimpeded. The 78-kilometre Bama-Maiduguri road was also closed by the Joint Task Force (JTF) for five months, immediately after the April 7, 2013 terrorist attack which led to the killing of 55 persons, including policemen and soldiers.