Govt Has Abandoned Us, C’River Community Laments
2 min read
Chiemeka ADINDU, Calabar
The people of Akarefor in Ekureku, Abi Local Government Area of Cross River State have lamented the level of neglect by both the state and federal government which has left them in a hopeless situation. They decried that the community does not have the basic amenities every community ought to have.
While lamenting at the deplorable state of things in the community to TNN, Protocol Officer to the Community, Chief Anukwa Joseph pleaded with the government to come to their rescue. He said they found it difficult to have access to good drinking water which had made them to resort to drinking water from the stagnant pond in the community. He also requested for the government to provide them with a transformer to enable so as to have access to electricity.
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“No singular government facility in that community, in Ekureku. Ekureku is made up of over twelve sub villages; so almost all the unit villages have transformers, some of the unit villages have two transformers but it is only Akarefor where there is no electric transformer and before we can get power supply right from our major markets we have to get from other villages. There is nothing like normal current in Akarefor which is causing the villagers not to use it and if you are trying it, it will even help to spoil the fridge.
“As you can see, some of these projects on-going whether NDDC or thereabouts like water projects, there is no one single project in the community; so on that note we the youths we normally… there is a pond, imagine in this time we still depend on the pond. So it is pond we drink; so the exercise is the last water bailing pond activities organizes by the youths, we go to the pond, mop out all the debris and ‘potopoto’ inside the whole place and keep the water clean which is just an ordinary pond, it’s not even a moving water and that is the source of water supply. We have cried to so many agencies and nothing has been done till now”, the protocol officer bemoaned.
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He said the issue with the government is that when you don’t have somebody from that particular unit, the unit will suffer. “We are a career community like the fishing profession and no one holds a strong political position in society, so that is one of our major challenges, that is why we are suffering all these things. However, it is the men from this particular unit that sponsor all the top politicians; this village as I speak with you is a village with about three professors.”
