NBC urged to re-visit and align troubled borders_ Dep. Governor
Akwa Ibom State Deputy Governor, Mr. Moses Ekpo, has blamed the incessant border dispute among communities in the country on those who demarcated the borders for doing so from the comfort of their offices.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Press Secretary to the deputy governor, Mr. Ekikere Umoh, and made available to journalists in Uyo yesterday.
He berated the commission for drawing imaginary lines to separate communities in dispute without taking into consideration the realities of history and common ancestral origins.
The negative effect according to him is that such boundary demarcation exercises generate new challenges such as forcefully dividing families into separate geographic locations resulting in distrust and in some instances, violent agitations.
He opined that the only viable solution lies in the re-alignment of the contentious border lines in affected communities.
“We left too many grey areas. If a little bit of care and time was taken to physically visit these areas at the border local governments, we would have been spared the current cycle of crises”, he said.
According to him, the wave of border disputes is oftentimes triggered by inadequate or non-availability of land for cultivation, leading to hunger and poverty which serves as fuel for the crises.
“As long as they do not have where to cultivate, they will not have what to eat, so, there’ll be crises. But, if we come to terms with reality, we will realize that no portion of land is worth the spilling of fellow human blood,” he added.
The Deputy Governor used the opportunity to shed more light on the state government’s policy on internal boundary crises, adding that, the government will continue to take over lands where there are intractable disputes, and develop the same for the mutual benefit of such communities.
He added that as part of this new policy, the government will do everything to ensure that people who go out of their way to foment crises resulting in disaster, do not benefit from the emergency relief materials of the government.
And explaining the critical role of economic empowerment in cushioning of border disputes, he said there was an absolute need for the federal government to cite meaningful projects like military or security-based institutions at volatile borders.
He cited the instance of the perennial Akwa Ibom-Cross River border crises between Ikot Offiong in Akwa Ibom and Akpabuyo in Cross River which intermittently becomes volatile since the closure of the federal government-owned Newsprint Manufacturing company at Oku Iboku.
He explained that the closure of NMNC meant the loss of the economic lifeline of the contigual communities as well as a unifying factor that hitherto doused the temperament of the youths along that border axis.
He therefore urged the federal government to convert the massive boundary corridor between Akwa Ibom and Cross River States into an economic hub for the mutual benefit of the two states.
