Displaced Bakassi children seek FG’s help

Worried by their continued shelter in public schools in the Akpabuyo Local Government Area of Cross River State, displaced Bakassi children have appealed to the Federal Government to provide them with zinc, cement, nails, rods and other necessary materials to enable them build their own houses.


They made their demands on Monday when Senator Florence Ita-Giwa donated food items and cash to the displaced people, who are taking refuge at St. Mark Primary School, Akwa Ikot Eyo Edem; and Government Secondary School, Akwa Ikot Eyo Edem, in New Bakassi Local Government Area.

The children are among the 4, 000 displaced persons who were chased out of their settlements by Cameroonian Gendarmes in March this year.

The other demands made by the included fishing boats and other fishing materials; provision of buses to ease transportation and take care of emergency situations; employment of Bakassi indigenes in federal establishments, including the military and paramilitary outfits.

In her address, Ita-Giwa urged the displaced persons to continue to be law-abiding, saying steps were being taken to cause the Federal Government to look into their plight.

Ita-Giwa noted that whether the Federal Government liked it or not, it was indebted to the people of Bakassi for being responsible for their plight.

She said, ‘’This country is obliged to resettle Bakassi people. The Green Tree Agreement must be respected. The struggle must be sustained just like the late Nelson Mandela did in South Africa. Nigeria government must resettle Bakassi people because they never went to the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands. They have been displaced for no fault of theirs.

‘’These people are now living in public schools, which should not be so. In the day the schools are classrooms and night bedrooms. This is bad. They sleep in classrooms that have no doors, no windows exposed to mosquito bites and consequent malaria infection and other diseases.’