SW Chiefs Want Bakassi, Akwaya Developed

By Elvis Tah & Eunice Fomenky*

The Southwest Chiefs under the auspices of their President, HRH, Chief Ofonda Esoh Itoh, have resolved to petition the government to develop Bakassi and Akwaya.

The chiefs arrived at the resolution during an enlarged executive council meeting that held at the Fakoship Plaza, Tuesday, August 26.According to the resolutions, the chiefs entreated the government to develop and guarantee peaceful co-existence of the Nigerians and Cameroonians in Bakassi.

This, they said, could be possible through the creation of security and administrative infrastructure; the rehabilitation of the Loum-Kumba-Mundemba-Issangele-Akwa road; the creation of a trade and fishery centre in Akwa, and to make the area a customs-free zone in order to attract other Cameroonians into the area.

They also proposed that the government should compensate the local councils in areas where petroleum resources are exploited.The chiefs are aspiring to publish the 3rd edition of their magazine, Wisdom Magazine, realising the "Food For All Project," the construction of their conference hall and to organise a cultural jamboree in Buea in December.

They also expressed the wish to invite Nigerian chiefs and to pay a return visit to them in a bid to strengthen bilateral ties between the two brotherly nations.The Chairman of the All Purpose Committee, SWECC, HRH Chief Atem Ebako, proposed two development plans, the Indigenisation Programme which is the instauration of social order, peace, calm and concord amongst the diverse people in Bakassi, and the Rural Development Programmes which has to do with the setting up of a southwest council development and support fund.

Concerning Akwaya, the chiefs lauded government's efforts in settling the dispute between the warring Yives and Olitis, but requested for a reinforcement of the security forces in order to keep the splinter groups at bay and also to enable the Yives, who are seeking refuge in Nigeria to return home.

The Post garnered that the government allocated FCFA 24 million for the resettlement, part of the money; FCFA 4 million was handed to Akwaya Mayor for the construction of tents for the re-settlement of the refugees.

At the end of the conference, Chief Esoh Itoh, told the press that SWECC would partner with the government to ensure that Bakassi continues to enjoy the facilities that would meet the needs and aspirations of the inhabitants.

"We intend to work with the natives who are in the area, to build a sense of belonging. We shall be visiting them once in a while to sensitise them, build their capacity and confidence. We shall also instil confidence building mechanism through cultural exchanges," said Chief Esoh.

(UB Journalism Student On Internship)

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Comments

[Legima Doh]

The best way to claim cognitive knowledge is through experience.La Republique has never lived in peaceful coexistence with the Southern Cameroons and logically cannot coexist with the Nigerians of Bakassi land.By saying that the chiefs are trying to portray la republique as a nation that is capable of brotherly coexistence with alien residents.This is absolute distortion of historical facts of la republique brutality and animosity to alien residents.Its a shame the chiefs keep on clamoring for very mean goals building of their hall,a cultural jamboree centre in Buea.Damn!What the hell are these chiefs thinking about that.Is this the future of the Southern Cameroons?Such goals greatly diminish the aspirations of a true Southern Cameroonian thinker.It is also a show of great compromise of honor.How can a thief keep on stealing from a landlord and in response the landlord continues to beg the thief to give him an iota bit of what he has stolen rather than chasing the thief away.What kind of idiocy is this.The so called chiefs can cower to the Biya regime but I and the comrades of the southern Cameroons cannot.We cannot accept such macabre hostility to our motherland.Bakassi is ours just as Victoria is ours.If we cower ourselves like the chief whom I now declare anathemas,the land will be exploited and rendered barren by the Biya regime.Akwaya was not in Bakassi in the past.It was completely abandoned by Biya regime.Why Akwaya issue now alongside Bakassi.These chiefs must come to realise that there is no development agenda for the Southern Cameroons by the Biya regime.I am sure part of the Biya constitution is the total annexation of the Southern Cameroon.If not in words then in action after all action speaks louder than words.They went forth to talk about uniting the Yives and the Olitis as if there is any unity between la republique and the Southern Cameroons.How can people unite another people when they themselves are hollow.It is very logical to conclude that these chiefs are all egocentric thieves of the Southern Cameroons.Their ideologies are so damnable as they stand against the destiny of out motherland.I hereby declare both the Northwest and Southwest chiefs who stand for the Biya regime as anathemas.They are all guilty of bringing our motherland to ruin.
God bless our motherland.
Legima Doh,
ScNc

[red flag]

I WHOLE HEARTEDLY SUPPORT YOU
DOH, WE ARE TIRED OF THESE THIEFS COME CHIEFS. WE BETTER START TELLING THEM TO THEIR FACES WHO THEY REALLY ARE.
INSTEAD US BUILDING AND RULING OUR LAND, THE THIEFS COME CHIEFS ARE CONNIVING WITH A FOREIGN COUNTRY TO DESTROY OUR BEAUTIFUL LAND AND LIFES FOR
PEANUTS HANDED TO THEM BY THE KING OF FRANCAFRIQUE CAMEROUN.

[Mburlih]

"How can a thief keep on stealing from a landlord and in response the landlord continues to beg the thief to give him an iota bit of what he has stolen rather than chasing the thief away."(Legima Doh)
Damn right! People who have been displaced by inter village misunderstanding for so long are given miets so belatedly to settle? Meanwhile billions are extracted from Ndian to build an artificial deep sea port in Kribi to the detriment of the natural port in Victoria.
At least HRH the chiefs this time sent a petition not a motion of support. May be they are waking up !
The Bakassi inhabitants are not aliens. They are Southern Cameroonians and therefore in principle part of unification with LRC as a result of the 1961 plebiscite in which they participated. The Yaounde regimes neglected them till it was evident that the area is rich in natural resources. Now they are clamoring for the opportunity to continue exploiting the oil to go and develop their villages East of The Mungo while the custodians of the wealth stand by gazing and sending motions of support and preaching unity at all cost. The Bakassi brothers are certainly better off at home than as refugees in Nigeria so they should team up with the other Southern Cameroonians to restore their Independence based on the court judgment that was rendered in the Federal High Court in Abuja demanding the FGN to take the Southern Cameroonian Uncompleted Independence issue to the UN.

[Legima Doh]

Thanks comrade Redflag.
Nice comment there Mburlih.Actually what I mean about being an alien means being a foreigner.We understand that in propaganda the Southern cameroons is part of la republique and therefore Bakassi.But the fact is that this is supposed to be a distinct state.Even the so called federation was not to make the Southern cameroons an integral part of la republique.So with regard to la republique, the southern cameroons is a state ,different and distinct from la republique and as such is a foreign state and its people ie the southern cameroonians including the Bakassi people are aliens to la republique ie foreigners whose legitimate right to reinstate the sovereignty of the motherland that la republique stands on the way of.Truly the people of Bakassi has to stand together with other southern cameroonians to fight for the restoration of the state to which they truly belong as in fact they neither belong to Nigeria nor La Republique du cameroun.
God bless the Southern Cameroons.
Legima Doh,
ScNc,Schenctady

[Grass_field]

It is good to see that the chiefs are waking up and asking for development in these rich but isolated parts of the country. I was always shocked to hear them force people to vote 100% to the regime, anybody who did not agree with them was termed a came no go or whatsoever.

I hope the change is for good and henceforth people who are asking for rights and development will not be seen as outsiders,

It is a pity that all the motions of support and 100% to the regime only made the South West one of the poorest province in Cameroon. What a paradox view the resources of this province and its contribution to all the money that is being chopped through corruption.
Please God help save this country.

[Charles F.]

Are Bakassi and Akwaya the only underdeveloped areas the CHIEFS know of? Were the CHIEFS silent all this while because they are satified with present development? There must be a unified voice to demand development for all areas. I do not think Buea is in any better shape than Akwaya.
Modern infracture of roads, utility etc are needed to promote trade and industry.