By UDO IBUOT

“It is logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace. Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos.” – George C. Marshall

While addressing a graduating class at Harvard University on June 5, 1947, the United States Secretary of State, General George Marshall, announced a plan that history has come to associate with his name. Nicknamed the Marshall Plan or European Recovery Programme, the plan which brought considerable changes to the economies of the world focused on the rehabilitation of Europe after the Second World War. Considerations that necessitated the plan included the estimation of physical loss of life; the visible destruction of cities, factories, mines and railroads, among others. At a time when European cities were devastated with national economies in ruins, General Marshall recognised that something had to be done and called on America to do whatever it could to enable the return of normal economic health to the world.

Apart from offering assistance for the rehabilitation of war-torn Europe at the time, it was also clear that there was an urgent need to assist poorer countries in Africa, South America, and Asia to enable them to catch up with countries in Europe and North America in terms of economic development. This desire has now developed into development communication paradigms of modernisation and dependency. A nexus, however, exists between the realisation of the Marshall Plan in Europe and the fate of the Ikot Akpan Udo/Itak Abasi conurbation in the Ukpum Ete Clan of the Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. This is because 18 years after the genocide on the Ikot Akpan Udo/Itak Abasi conurbation by the Obolo terrorists of Eastern Obolo LGA, the challenges of homelessness, hunger, poverty and desperation are still as pervasive as they were in the post-World War II era.

Just as General Marshall observed about the European situation, the breakdown of the business and economic structures of the Ikot Akpan Udo/Itak Abasi conurbation has been complete with recovery seriously retarded since the close of the unwarranted hostilities. This oil-producing conurbation is at the heart of the Ikot Abasi Liberty Oil and Gas free zone and currently serves as one of the core host communities to the Sterling Global Petrochemical and Fertilizer Company and the Ibom Developers FZE partners.

The remedy lies in breaking the vicious circle and restoring the confidence of the people of the Ikot Akpan Udo/Itak Abasi conurbation in the economic future of their community. An essential part of any successful action on the part of the Akwa Ibom State government and the Ikot Abasi local government council is an understanding on the part of the people of the character of the problem and the remedies to be applied. Political prejudice should have no part in the rehabilitation efforts. It is on record that the erstwhile administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel had issued a white paper on the Ime Ekam-led commission of inquiry set up after the 2008 massacre.

The white paper implementation committee headed by former commissioner for health, Professor Augustine Umoh, visited Ikot Akpan Udo in July 2022 and assured that as part of measures to resettle the communities, the state government would rebuild structures and facilities destroyed during the crisis. Prof. Umoh who said his team was on the visit to enable the committee to have an on-the-spot assessment of the properties destroyed during the crisis, observed that the government was committed to restoring peace between the neighbouring communities. The former deputy governor, Obong Moses Ekpo, had earlier assured that the government had taken serious steps that would lead to the provision of facilities that were destroyed in the area to enable the people to return to normal life.

There is an urgent need for the rebuilding of all structures that were destroyed in the conurbation in the unwarranted attacks from the Obolo terrorists. While the state government is expected to take the lead in the reconstruction of the conurbation, the Ikot Abasi and Eastern Obolo local government councils must also be involved in the rehabilitation work. The Eastern Obolo local government council, in particular, has a vicarious liability because its citizens attacked and destroyed the Ikot Akpan Udo/Itak Abasi conurbation without provocation. They must also pay compensation for the lives lost in the attacks. On its part, the Ikot Abasi local government council has a responsibility in resettling its constituents and in restoring the conurbation to the standard that will enable the citizens to return from villages they have been forced to flee to as refugees. 

The tripartite rehabilitation effort shall serve as tonic to restore the confidence of citizens of the conurbation.

While the erstwhile administration had begun moves to rehabilitate the Ikot Akpan Udo/Itak Abasi conurbation but was unable to conclude the task before the end of its tenure, it is incumbent on the administration of Governor Umo Eno to complete the yeoman task. As God has proclaimed peace and had it divinely executed in the conurbation, it is the prayer of the citizens that He will support Governor Eno to start and conclude this assignment that will make him to be reckoned in history as Cyrus the Great of the refugees of the Ikot Akpan Udo/Itak Abasi conurbation.

Isaiah 45:1-4 describes Cyrus as the king that God anointed before he was born to fast-track the return of the Jewish refugees to Jerusalem. God is recorded as having called the Persian ruler by name with a promise to go before him and make his crooked ways straight. It is observed that he issued the Edict of Restoration that allowed the displaced Jews to be repatriated to the kingdom of Judah and the resurgence of Jewish sovereignty over Eretz Israel. Cyrus is also credited with the facilitation of the completion of the rebuilding of the second temple in Jerusalem. Governor Umo Eno’s initiation of this rehabilitation work shall serve as the seeds of his renewal in office.

• Dr. Ibuot, a journalist, wrote from Lagos.