• …..Received only N2, 000 for road project from FG since IBB regime
• ….Obasanjo, ex-govs Duke, Imoke looked the other way
• …Villagers look up to  President Buhari, Gov Ayade

By Ike Uchechukwu

MKPOT- WHAT  irritates about Mkpot community, a Nigerian border community with Cameroon in Akamkpa Local Government Area, Cross River State, is not just the sour tale of poverty and deprivations faced by the people, but the hard to believe neglect of Nigerian citizens by Local, State and Federal Governments.

The community has no motorable access road, electricity and educational institution.   To access a health facility, villagers still carry sick persons on locally made wooden stretchers across rivers, trekking miles before they could convey them to hospitals, 25 kilometers away, in the 21st  century.

The Catholic Archbishop of Calabar, Most Rev Joseph Ekuwem(M) with members of the community

Many pregnant women had given up with their unborn babies during the process, over the years, while some seriously ill persons also died on the way.

The Nigerian media had repeatedly drawn attention to the plight of Mkpot people, mainly farmers and anglers, but government still remain impervious to the ordeals of the villagers.

Nonchalant governments

Government has not demonstrated enough zeal in the execution of a 24-km road project embarked upon by the community on self- help since 1988 to link them to other parts of the state, despite appeals to the state and federal governments.

Mkpot community in November 2010 sent a letter to the then governor of the state, Mr. Donald Duke, requesting him to assist the community with funds to construct the road. The governor did nothing about the request.

A former diplomat and chairman of Mkpot Community Road Project, Dr. Lawrence Mgbangson, said the people were shocked at the way the state, local and federal governments have neglected the community, adding: “How could our people be neglected like this by a government whom we trust even when we pay our taxes regularly to the government. This is cheating; our people have been grossly marginalized by the three levels of government.”

The community leader said the people surrendered and allowed the Federal Government to convert part of its  tropical rain forest rich in flora and fiona to a National Park, hoping that something would be done by  government to better their lots, but to their greatest amazement, nothing had been done to give succor to the host community of National Park.

He maintained that despite the fact that Mpot community is endowed with so many tourist attractions like the Iyang water fall, Ibong Hill, tallest iroko trees, black woodland and many rare fiona and flora in the vicinity,   the community still suffers outright neglect.

We got only N2, 000 in 1989

Mgbangson, who decried the fact that government had neglected the community, told NDV that they only received N2,000 from government since the inception of the project and that was during the regime of former President, Ibrahim Babangida in 1989.

He asserted: “We only got N2,000 during Babaginda regime in 1989, since then, nothing in form of assistance has come to the people of Mkpot from the government. We have not received any support from the federal, state or local governments.

“Even the National Park Service has never assisted us in any way, in fact, they were even the ones that stopped the project before we wrote to the Director then and the project was re-approved, they wanted us to still live like animals in the zoo,” he stated.

People pass away daily

His words, “ It is appalling to learn that the country still have a community where people die on daily basis,   especially when they fall sick of ailment which could have been tackled by healthcare givers should there have been a healthcare facility in the area, but unfortunately, there is none.”

OBJ, Duke, Imoke, Ayade’s reactions

Like other villagers, who spoke to NDV, he grumbled that former governor of the state, Mr. Donald Duke, ignored the November 2010 request by the community for assistance.

He stated that former President Olusegun Obasanjo merely acknowledged a letter by the community in 2004, urging him to prevail on the Cross River state government to assist Mkpot people with an access road, but nothing happened thereafter.

The community leader added   that in 2012, the town sent an appeal to Duke’s successor,   Senator Liyel Imoke, for assistance to construct the road, saying: “The governor went   a step further by sending a surveyor to survey the road, but nothing more was done. The report of the survey is now in the state’s archives.”

It has also notified the incumbent governor of the state, Prof Ben Ayade, of its predicament, as well as the Embassies of Germany, Spain and Switzerland.

Buhari govt yet to act

According to him, in November 2016, the community again wrote the current Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Usani, highlighting the plight of the people, the minister reportedly made a solemn pledge, but in Mgbangson’s words, “Till date, nothing has been done.”

Clan head blames National Park for woes

The Regent of Mkpot and Clan Head, Mkpot Clan, Ntufam Augustine Ojong,   lamented   that rather than assist the people, the establishment of the   Cross River National Park by the National Park Authority at Mkpot   in 1991 worsened the quandary of the villagers, living side by side the forest and using the resources in the woodland for survival.

NDV gathered that the management of the Park in 1992 suspended the road project and asked the people to prepare for resettlement outside the National Park area. The relocation plan put on hold planting and cultivation of cash crops such as cocoa, palms, ogbono, cotton and coffee by the people.   In addition, the Park prohibited hunting and fishing activities.

It got more unpredictable as rangers of the National Park cracked down on villagers, including women and children harvesting fruits, vegetables, Neptune Africana (afang/mfuni) or working in their farms.

Ban on use of forest resources

Dr Mgbangson confirmed that the National Park Authority actually threatened the road project in 1992 when it came up with the plan to relocate the people to an alternate place “to allow for effective use of the National Park…,” but the community continued to mount pressure on it to lift the ban.

Four years after,   in 1996, the National Park , however, suspended the relocation plan indefinitely citing lack of funds, but other restrictions by the National Park concerning the use of the forest resources remained in place (no farming, no fishing, no harvesting of mfuni, ogbono, including attempting to construct an access road.”

Catholic archbishop rouses community

In January 2010, a former Managing Director of the Cross River National Park, who is from Akamkpa local government area, offered the community N250,000 in her personal capacity for the road project and the poor villagers added N100,000 at the time to commence the road construction on self-help.

Nevertheless,  the Catholic Archbishop of Calabar, Most Rev Joseph Ekuwem, has been nothing short of an Angel sent to the community, collaborating with the people to achieve about 9 kilometers of the 24-kilometer road as at April, after construction of the initial 3 kilometers.

We need help

Last month, the community launched a second appeal fund of N300 million to continue the construction of the road, but sources said nothing tangible to recommence the project was realized.

NDV gathered that the people realized over N2 million from the launch and intend to continue in spite of scarcity of funds, which is a major challenge to the project.

“ We have been able to raise about N2.4 million as we speak and we intend to forge ahead despite the paucity of funds.   We are peasants, mostly farmers no doubt, but we are determined to complete the project.

“But we are appealing to relevant authorities and government to come to our aid; they should help us because the load has become too heavy for Mkpot people alone to carry, “he added.

Road’ll open up community

Dr. Mgbangson, actually the community’s think-tank around the project, said the way to prolong the lifespan of the people, who have been dying in their numbers, and almost going extinct was to contribute to the road project to give them a new lease of life and beginning.

“Perhaps, a motorable access road may compel government to build   a health facility for the people, build school, provide electricity and other basic amenities of life,” a villager, who agreed with him echoed.”