Boko Haram: Residents flee Damaturu as prices crash

The Yobe State capital has become a shadow of its old self.

The price of landed property has crashed in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, as residents relocate to their villages and other states due to persistent Boko Haram attacks.

A property which was sold for N4 million now sells for N3 million and less. Yet, no one is asking.

“We have many properties lined up for sale because, people are relocating out of the state capital,” Babagana Mohammed, a Damaturu based real estate agent said.

“Yet, there are no buyers.” A property owner who narrated his experience said he had placed a property for N4 million and got buyers asking for N3.5 million. At that time however, he was unwilling to sell.

“Now I am willing to take N3 million, but the buyer is no longer there,” he said.

Another seller cut his price tag from N2.5 million to N1.8 million, and could still not find a buyer.

Residents have been fleeing the state capital since November 2011, after the city came under heavy attack by the Boko Haram sect.

The migration became intense recently, after the sect openly engaged security operatives in hours of bloody battle.

Many houses in the state capital are locked up, empty and their occupants gone.

The residents having migrated out of the troubled state capital, to safer villages and other states.

Meanwhile, the Yobe government has appealed to fleeing residents to stay back; as government and security operatives are “working hard” to restore peace in the metropolis.