LG BOSS SEEKS AID FOR BAKASSI RETURNEES

An appeal has again been made to the Federal Government to come to the aid of Bakassi Returnees by instituting programmes that would properly integrate them into the society.
The appeal was made by the Chairman, Eket Local Government Area, Barr. Emmanuel Udoh when the Special Presidential Inspection Committee on Security situation in Bakassi Peninsula led by Mrs. Moremi Soyinka Onijala visited the Returnees’ Camp at Iko Eket in Eket Local Government Area.
Barr. Udoh requested the Federal Government to provide Parliament Resettlement Camps with schools, medical care and financial support to enable the returnees to continue their business.
He disclosed that Eket has two Bakassi Camps, one at Iko Eket with fifteen thousand returnees and another at Nditia with five thousand returnees.
The Chairman said that the State Government and the host councils had been providing various forms of relief to the returnees, adding that such efforts were grossly inadequate to alleviate their sufferings.
Barr. Udoh also informed the committee that natural disasters such as thunder storm and flooding were causing residents in Eket sleepless nights and unnecessary hardship and disillusionment.
The leader of the delegation, Mrs. Moremi said her committee was mandated to visit the returnees and assess their problems with a view to solving them.
She commended the returnees for their patience and efforts of the State, Local Governments at sustaining them while assuring that solutions would soon be found to their problems.
Speaking on behalf of the returnees, Mr. Friday Thompson Udoeyo decried the deplorable condition of the returnees and pleaded with the Federal Government to cater for them.