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The displaced people of Bakassi have to wait on God for help as
they ponder the whereabouts of the ₦600m
released early this year by the presidency to kick-start development at
the Day-Spring and Qua Islands for their permanent relocation.

This is the second time that funds made available by the federal
government for the development of a permanent resettlement site for the
displaced people will be missing. The ₦1billion released by the federal
government to the former Cross Rivers State government headed by Donald Duke
had similarly disappeared without trace.

When the new governor, Liyel Imoke took office in 2007, there
was no fund to develop the site meant for the displaced people. Mr Imoke had to
lobby President Umaru Yar’Adua for another money to enable him commence the
development of the site, given that the handover date of the oil-rich Bakassi
peninsula to the Republic of Cameroon was drawing near.

In late 2007, the federal government released another ₦1 billion
to the state for the provision of houses, schools, roads, hospitals at the
Ekpri Ikang site in New Bakassi Local Government Area. Experts said the amount
was grossly inadequate, and the state government had to augment it with
additional ₦1 billion.

By the time the island was finally handed over on August 14,
2008 in a colourful ceremony at Government House, Calabar. Mr Imoke was out of
office following the annulment of his election by the Court of Appeal on July
14, 2008.

Our investigations revealed that a presidential team which early
January went to inspect the Day-Spring and Qua Island site near Calabar to
ascertain their suitability for the displaced people of Bakassi approved the
release of ₦600 million for immediate development of the area in lieu of a
comprehensive funding to be provided for in the 2010 budget.

More than two months after the fund was said to have been
released by the Boundary Development Agency (BDA), work has not commenced at
the designated site as expected.

Analysts say the money is either in the coffers of the state
government or with the Boundary Development Agency [BDA] of the federal
government. But the latter claimed it has not received any of the cash. The
state government which has a separate account for the provision of
infrastructure for the people of Bakassi also said the account has not yet been
credited.

The director-general of the state boundary commission, Leo
Aggrey whose agency is charged with attracting development to the border
communities of the state, including Bakassi, expressed shock that such a fund
could be missing. He explained that,

“Because of the financial situation of the state government,
we’ve been keyed into his excellency’s intension to seek alternative or
collaborative funding of projects in the state. So, we have taken our cry to
the National Boundary Commission (NBC) and the Border Development Agency (BDA)
which has just been created out of NBC.

“Our meeting with the two agencies revealed that there was a
little fund left over in the 2009 budget, about ₦600 million precisely; it has
been transferred to the BDA and we made a presentation to them about Bakassi
because of its precarious situation, the refugee situation and the people’s
agitation to be relocated to the Day-Spring and Qua Island.”

Worried officials

Mr Aggrey confirms that federal officials visited the two sites
which the state committee had recommended for the relocation of the displaced.

” We had chosen that location because the fishing community
preferred there and not Ekpri-Ikang where development has already started,” he
said. “So,with the fund, we were trying to key into it so that the Border
Development Agency could come and invest in Bakassi, precisely, the Day-Spring
and Qua Island.

“The BDA Executive Secretary, Mr. Wills, an engineer, assured us
that he was going to take our presentation to the Board and management for
consideration, so that part of the fund could be used to start developing the
Day-Spring and Qua Island while concerted efforts would be made in the 2010
budget to openly develop the Day-Spring and Qua Island. That position is what I
know o.”

However, he said he was sure that if the fund is diverted, the
state government “will unearth that, so that whatever needs to be done must be
done for the Bakassi people. I will go on top of that, we will make inquiries”,
he said.

Following the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroun on October 10, 2002,
majority of the Bakassi people demanded that they be relocated to a virgin
area, preferably, the Day-Spring Island where their fishing needs would be met
and where they would not impose on people, so as to avoid any crisis from
claims and counter-claims of land ownership.

But the Cross River State government preferred Ekpri-Ikang ,
carved out of Akpabuyo local government Area, which is already inhabited, and
build over 200 housing units there. This, however, could not meet the needs of
thousands of the displaced people.

The pioneer chairman of the displaced people, Bassey Edet, said
his people are worried over reports of the missing funds.

“We query the intension of those behind the alleged diversion of the Bakassi
development fund and implored both the state and federal governments to step
into the matter,” he said.