The Kano State Government has ordered all scrap dealers to stop the import of waste metals and scrap materials immediately from northeast regions into the state.
The state’s Commissioner for Security and Home Affairs, AVM Ibrahim Umaru (Rtd), reiterated the directive Wednesday in a statement.
The commissioner reasoned that the directive was a consequence of a couple of bomb explosions recently in Kano that ended the lives of five people while seriously injuring others.
In its investigations, the explosives used to create the blasts were smuggled and concealed in scrap materials shipped from the northeast of Nigeria, an area encapsulated by the phenomenon of Boko Haram.
According to Umaru, preliminary investigations into the recent explosions in Kano revealed that the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) used were smuggled into the state, hidden among scrap items transported from the Northeast.
“In light of the recent bomb blasts that tragically claimed five lives and injured several others, we have traced the origin of the explosives to scrap materials brought in from the Northeast,”; the commissioner said. “That region has long been affected by Boko Haram activities, and we cannot afford to take any chances.”;
The ban is immediate, and the Commissioner urged all scrap dealers to observe it, indicating punishments for non-compliance.
“This directive is a preventive measure to protect the lives and property of our citizens,”; Umaru added. “All dealers in scrap materials are hereby instructed to immediately stop importing such items from the Northeast. Anyone found violating this order will face the full weight of the law.
“We are not banning the business of scrap entirely,”; he clarified. “But bringing them in from high-risk zones without thorough scrutiny endangers everyone.”;
The ban is the latest signal that the Kano State Government is stepping up requirements for security in response to increasing concerns about inventive – and usually unconventional means of smuggling explosives and other dangerous weapons into the state.
