…as Commissioner distributes relief materials, cash to people of Ikot Offiong
Twenty-four (24) years after being left in the shadows, the people of Ikot Offiong in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State have felt a hand of relief from the government for the first time as the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) distributed relief materials to the community.
CONVERSEER reports that in the last 24 years, the community has been ravaged by crises, ranging from war, flooding and other disasters, yet, no hope from anywhere.
But, that hope came on Wednesday, 29th May 2024, courtesy of Rt. Hon. Orok Duke, NDDC Commissioner in Cross River State, who distributed relief items and cash to the people.
Distributing the relief materials to the people at the Palace of His Excellency Etubom (Dr) Nya Eyoma Asuquo, Clan Head of Mbiabo Ikot Offiong Clan, on Wednesday, Duke said it was necessary that the community feel the impact of government, adding that the exercise was an interim intervention to ease the stress of the people.
According to him, “We want to establish certain areas that we cannot overlook again, and Ikot Offiong community is going to be one of them.
“This is 24 years without the Ikot Offiong people being settled. We intend to add value to what this present government is doing, and I can reveal here that Ikot Offiong issue is one of those pressing issues.
“On our own part at NDDC, we are going to insist that all those parts that have been neglected and are still suffering, including the people of Ikot Offiong, will be taken care of. To a large extent, this problem will be taken care of by this government and also with us being supportive.”
Moved by the plight of the people of Ikot Offiong, Duke personally donated the sum of N500,000, promising to do more for them.
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The Cross River State NDDC Representatives said they are targeting communities that are really stressed across the three Senatorial Districts of the State.
“We are targeting a few communities that are really stressed. It is the beginning of more things to come. I am saying this strictly because at NDDC now, we are more open. We are going to move to Obanliku and Ogoja where we heard there’s an invasion by the Ambazonians from Cameroon. We have refugees there,” Duke maintained.
Receiving the relief items on behalf of the Ikot Offiong community, HE Etubom Asuquo, former Member Representing Odukpani/Calabar Municipality at the National Assembly and Ambassador of Nigeria to Uganda, thanked the NDDC and the Commissioner for the gesture.
He revealed that they had been neglected by previous administrations, even as the people were suffering.
Asuquo stated that Governor Bassey Otu had promised them during the campaigns that their problem would be a thing of the past.
“We have indeed started noticing that it would soon be a thing of the past. The last person who gave us this type of relief material here was the governor’s wife herself. She was touched by the plight of the Ikot Offiong people. We are so happy that you too have remembered us. God will bless you,” he said.
On her part, the women leader of Ikot Offiong, Mrs Atim Effiong Okon, expressed gratitude to Duke and prayed for God’s blessings upon him and the NDDC.
CONVERSEER further reports that the people of Esierebom in Calabar South Local Government Area of the stated also benefited from the gesture on the same day.
Photos of the distribution of NDDC relief materials to the people of Ikot Offiong
Photos of the distribution of NDDC relief materials to the people of Esierebom
