Theophile Nguia Beina, Divisional Officer, D.O, for Mokolo in the Far North region, has requested that each family in the Mokolo Sub Division henceforth contribute 200FCFA on a monthly basis to support a village vigilance committee against Boko Haram.

In the same vein, traders in the locality are to contribute 100FCFA each, every market day, to support the same cause.

The initiative which is being protested by the residence of the community emerged from a meeting organised in the locality on August 14. The meeting brought together both military and administrative authorities, traditional and religious leaders. However, it was later on August 17 that the decision was officially announced.

The D.O made the announcement during a sermon at the district’s Baptist Church- an announcement which was greeted with murmurs of disapproval.

Visibly shying away from responsibility, he told congregants that he did not make the decision - that it was taken by traditional rulers who based their judgement on the difficulties being faced by members of the vigilance committee set up to assist security forces and administrative authorities in the fight against Boko Haram. He added that the money would use to purchase equipment for the members of the committee and to motivate volunteers who have opted to carry out the risky tasks.

According to initiators of the compulsory donation, it is a just contribution to the war against Boko Haram. Each traditional ruler is expected to come up with a register on which his subjects will be recorded alongside their contributions.

The equipment to be bought with the money includes machetes, flashlights, bicycles, bows and arrows, among others. The traditional rulers are obliged to organise monthly meetings to present balance sheets on how the money is used. Mokolo has a population of 310,000, made up of about 10,000 families. 200FCFA contributed by each gives a sum of 2million FCFA per month, that is, excluding the contributions from traders.

The committees were set up by traditional rulers and local authorities as a way of supporting security forces that were deployed to the region to combat Boko Haram. They are not trained for ripostes. Their main duty is to report suspected activities and persons to security forces.