Tuesday 15 July 2014

Eket people decry marginalisation by FG

The people of Ekid Nation in Akwa Ibom state have decried the lack of federal presence in their communities despites its huge crude oil contribution to the federation account through exploration activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)/Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) joint venture and other oil companies in its territorial waters and land.

Ekid Nation which makes up Eket and Esit Eket according to the National President of Eket peoples Union (EPU), Professor Asindi Asindi has remained neglected for years as “the federal government has not impacted on Ekid land in spite of our crude oil. Ekid people are sitting on crude oil reserves which contribute immensely towards the national revenue. What does your village or area benefit or enjoy out of this?”

Professor who said this on Monday in Akpautong in Esit Eket Local Government Area while presenting a lecture at the gathering of “Esit Eket Conscience”, a socio-cultural group to foster the growth and progress of Esit Eket people, pointed out that the time has come for the Ekid people to benefit from the entity Nigeria and “we need to take stock and bring to the fore the poor representation of Ekid indigenes in the state and federal civil and public services”.

He said “our qualified youths are loitering with no means of livelihood and their number is soaring…our people should no more allow themselves to be taken for a ride by selfish and un patriotic legislators and chief executives; they must insist on what they need and should be able to physically interrupt and halt a project which they will not benefit from. We are in democracy”

Asindi who is a renowned Professor of Medicine in the College of Medicine, University of Calabar noted that the governance called democracy is an elegant and robust ideology hence, “the president with his ministers, governors, with their commissioners and heads of local government councils with their councilors should regard themselves not as masters in any form, shape and circumstances, but as servants of the people. They are not supposed to hijack the people’s rights and privileges or dominate and usurp the entire governance and polity”.

He decried the politics of god fatherism in the country saying, “these god fathers would want to take over contract awards, determine appointments and influence the distribution of amenities. It is sad to learn that some of them may even demand to be placed on a payroll when they are not performing any visible functions. This is most primitive, anti-democratic and countercurrent of progress”.
He charged Ekid people to take their pride of place among other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria and “Akwa Ibom state cannot be said to stand on a tripod but on a number of legs. The internationally recognized ethnic nationalities which constitute our state are, Ibibio, Annang, Eket, Oron, Ibeno and Obolom, these are the legs” and not the tripod.

“Ekid Nation like any other nations of Nigeria has got to project its self-determination, its rights and make its claims in very clear terms. The projection of Ekid identity is the flash point of the incumbent EPU executive council, the apex sociocultural organization of Ekid Nation…The pursuit of selfish political agenda has been the banes of our society (and) the dividends of democracy have eluded us because leadership and followership do not honestly and amicably interface in Ekid”.  

In the political arena, Professor Asindi said, “this apex body should insist on identifying and nominating who their representatives are at the federal, state, and local government levels”, warning that “from now on we cannot afford to be so partisan to a level whereby a political party or a chief executive will hand pick the one who represents our people”.

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