North Nigeria City In Dark For Week After Terrorists Sabotage

Maiduguri, Nigeria, Feb 2 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Feb, 2021 ) :Residents of the northeastern Nigerian city Maiduguri have been struggling with a power blackout for a week after militants blew up supply lines, causing water shortages and disrupting businesses and daily life.

The attack was the third time in a month that the IS-linked Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group have plunged the city of three million into darkness for days by blowing up transmission lines.

Maiduguri's latest troubles came as President Muhammadu Buhari replaced his top four military commanders, in a sudden overhaul after months of criticism over the handling of the country's decade-long insurgency.

Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, has been without power since January 26 after the militants blew up a power grid just outside the city, according to residents and sources at the power company.

Bukar Musa, a welder, has seen his business crippled by the power outage, forcing him to look for menial jobs to feed his wife and three children.

"It has been a whole week without a light in the city which has grounded my welding job," the 27-year-old told AFP.

"I have now turned to a labourer, assisting a bricklayer for a fraction of what I make as a welder, which is inadequate to feed my family," Musa said.

He would usually earn the equivalent of around $6.60 (about 5.5 Euros) per day at his workshop.

Now, though, he makes around $4 working on building sites, spending a good part of the daily wage on medication for body pains from the labour, he said.

Grema Umar's ice-block vending business has also crumbled, forcing him to contemplate begging to feed himself.

"I have nothing left, even if power is restored I will have to raise another capital and I don't know how," Umar said.