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JOE EFFKIONG, UYO
AKwa Ibom state Deputy Governor Mr Moses Ekpo has attributed the intractable border clashes in Nigeria to the neglect of such communities by both the state and federal governments
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Akwa Ibom State has a few flash points of interstate bother crises, especially the one between the people of Itu LGA and their kinsmen in Odukpani LGA of Cross River State, and the perennial land disputes between the people of Obot Akara LGA of the state and other of Ikwano in Abia state. Many lives and property worth millions of naira are said to have been lost in the fracas.
The state is equally bedeviled with intractable intrastate boundary crises between the people of Ikot Akpan Udo in Ikot Mkpat Enin LGA and Amazaba in Eastern Obolo LGA of the state, even as it is grappling with the recent fatal clashes between the people of Ibeno and their Ilaje settlers.
But Ekpo, speaking with journalists in his office on Wednesday, said such crises would have been nipped in the bud if the federal government had responded to the plea to establish some industrial concerns in border areas/.
He also observed that inability of the federal government to implement the trans- border initiative mooted by National Boundary Commission (NBC) has hindered peace process among such conflicting communities across Nigeria .
He said the Transborder Co-operation initiative, a novel idea evolved by the National Boundary Commission, NBC, to checkmate border hostilities and promote inter-border peace and understanding was embraced by the state government to tackle conflicts arising from boundary disputes .
Ekpo regretted that if the programme was implemented , it would have helped in solving border conflicts and restoring peace.
He recalled that the Nigerian Newsprint Manufacturing Company ( NNMC) established by the federal government at Oku Iboku , Itu local government area in Akwa Ibom state served the warring communities from Cross River State and AKwa Ibom without any rancour between them.
The deputy governor noted that immediately the company collapsed , hostilities resumed in the area causing many residents to flee from the area.
” When Oku Iboku paper mill was there, we never had any conflict between neighbouring communities there. But as soon as the Paper Mill collapsed, communities around there were at war with each other”
” If the Paper Mill was still functioning , we wouldn’t have the communal conflicts there because many youths would have engaged themselves in meaningful jobs to help them instead of fighting ”
He therefore urged the federal government to sincerely implement the trans border co-operation initiative to curbed hostilities in border areas.
Ekpo appreciated federal donor agencies such as National Emergency Management Agency ( NEMA) for assisting the state government in providing relief materials to victims of border crisis and other communities in the state
