Daily Independent (Lagos)
Dominic Kidzu
3 July 2009
opinion
Lagos — This is the story of South Eastern State, the story of old Cross River State, too. But more importantly, it is the story of the new Cross River and Akwa Ibom States. Two states, one people, one destiny, bonded by geography, history, heritage and blood. And also united so deeply by parentage, marriage, business and friendship.
Indeed, so much so that, outside Calabar and Uyo, Nigerians are usually hard put to tell who is from Cross River or Akwa Ibom. They know us all as 'Calabar people'. I confess that I, too, even I, cannot also tell who is who.
Two out of five people on the streets of Calabar are Akwa Ibomites, another two out of five are Atam (i.e. people from Central and Northern Cross River), while one out of five is a real Calabar man. The linguistic, cultural, and historical bonds are such that even a DNA test will reveal very little difference.
Many electoral and appointive offices in Cross River State are held by people of Akwa Ibom heritage. Such people abound in Calabar Municipal Council, Calabar South, and in Akpabuyo and Akamkpa local government councils. This is a fact that cannot be controverted.
When the two states were together, the capital and headquarters of the civil service were in Calabar. Upon creation of Akwa Ibom, it was difficult for many civil servants to cut lose and return to Akwa Ibom, having probably lived here all their lives. As a result many stayed back. Today, 22 years after, about 25% of the civil workforce on the payroll of Cross River State are of Akwa Ibom origin. They go back to Akwa Ibom to build their houses. They return there for marriages, burial ceremonies and town meetings. When they retire, their children take over in Cross River, while they return to Akwa Ibom to rest and to die.
Governor Akpabio could not have put it more succinctly when he said to the Cross River Executive Council, which was having a conference in Uyo, that a good number of his House of Assembly and Executive Council members live in Calabar and go to work in Uyo. There is no limit to the inferences that one could draw to point out the symbiotic connectivity between the two states. The point to make, however is that, impoverishing one state is potentially dangerous to the other that is enriched. Clearly, it doesn't pay the people of Akwa Ibom in Akwa Ibom and the people of Akwa Ibom in the Diaspora (Calabar) to impoverish Cross River State.
Perhaps, the former governor, Obong Victor Attah, had this in mind when he wrote to President Obasanjo in 2005 on the oil wells issue. He stated, inter alia, that "...the baseline used by Admiralty (consultants to the National Boundary Commission, NBC) relied too much on micro-geographic features commonly described as local phenomena. Such features are constantly changing because of coastal erosion. He continued, "...This heavy reliance on boundaries has taken 70 oil wells that used to belong to Cross River into Akwa Ibom State. Similarly, a number of wells have been taken from Akwa Ibom State into Rivers State."
Attah added that using the historical principle and "...for justice and equity, Akwa Ibom State should give back to Cross River State wells that always belonged to Cross River State, and Rivers should give back to Akwa Ibom State wells that always belonged to Akwa Ibom State."
On October 24, 2007, however, Governor Godswill Akpabio revisited the issue. Writing to the President on the subject, he stated that "...the only reason that Cross River State can enjoy the benefit of those wells today is through the application of Articles 15 and 7.1 of the UNCLOS 82 which canvasses respect for the preservation of historic titles. We insist that for fairness and justice, a similar application be made to the boundary between Akwa Ibom and Rivers."
Governor Akpabio then complained that "...(the) NBC, in one of its briefings, came up with options to resolve the CONTRIVED boundary disputes between Akwa Ibom and Rivers States on the one hand, and Akwa Ibom and Cross River on the other... The NBC quoted Article 7.1 of the UNCLOS 82, which canvasses respect for the preservation of historic titles, to support the return to status quo: that is, each state should keep the oil wells it had before the promulgation of the Onshore/Offshore Dichotomy Law of 2004. The Presidency accepted this recommendation and actually directed its implementation as it affected Cross River State, but implementation of the same application in the case of Akwa Ibom/Rivers State boundary has been pending. Instead, the Presidency opted for a political solution, which compelled Rivers State to return only 50% of the oil wells which were transferred from Akwa Ibom to Rivers State based on the disputed boundary lines."
From the above account, it is clear that both the former and current administrations in Akwa Ibom State clearly have no problem with Cross River State. The issue in contention, as contained in the letters written by the two governors to presidents Obasanjo and Yar'Adua, is the determination of the oil wells along the boundary between Akwa Ibom and Rivers States.
The NBC and RMAFC are, therefore, simply meddlesome interlopers in search of a sinister objective that only they can explain. With the new adjustments, Federal Allocation accruing to Cross River has dropped from N2.2bn to N1.2bn, while same coming into Akwa Ibom has gone up from 11bn to 17bn. The difference is just one billion naira; but it means all the world to Cross River, and Akwa Ibom can truly spare that one for Cross River State, everything considered. What Akwa Ibom cannot do with 16bn, it certainly will not be able to do with 17bn.
The Federal Government is in a position to display fatherly wisdom by addressing this matter to the amicable agreement and satisfaction of both parties. There are too many problems in the Niger Delta Region. We may not need to invent fresh ones.
Dominic Kidzu is General Manager of Cross River State Newspapers Corporation.
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Thank you kidsu my brother.
Our people says you dont nit the finger that feeds you. There is no way on earth Akwa Ibom will match up with Cross River State, never in the history of life. GOD has already destined us for greatness, nobody can stop that not even ourselves. If you are not there you are not there, even if they give them all the monies in the country. But most importantly the day of reckoning is at hand.