FOR the people of Bakassi peninsular in Cross River State, the apprehension was total as the days drew closer for the commencement of the just-ended national census exercise. The reason for their fears, was obvious: their land has been a subject of dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon.
To make matters worse, the International Court of Justice at the Hague, Netherlands had ruled in October 2002 that the oil-rich enclave belongs to Cameroon. The implication was that Nigeria should withdraw her troops from the area and hand over her nationals to its neighbours, or withdraw them from the land.
But Nigeria, insisting on political settlement, would not do any of the two, necessitating the United Nations representative in the Nigeria/Cameroon Mixed Commission, Mr. Ahmedou Ould Abadallah to call on the former on October 24, 2004 to vacate the disputed zone.
However, the Bakassi indigenes would not hear of this talk about handing over their communities or transferring their nationality status to elsewhere. They have always insisted that a plebiscite should be organised to determine where they prefer as their country of origin.
The controversy has ever persisted. Thus, with uncertainty over their fate, the Bakassi people were full of anxiety as to whether they would be counted during the census exercise. It was, therefore, a big sigh of relief when they sighted the enumerators in their homes.
In affirming how the headcount was carried out in Bakassi, the Cross River State co-ordinator of the National Population Commission (NPC), Alhaji Alfa Mohammed praised the efforts of Nigerian troops in the area for making it possible for the exercise to be carried out in the first place.
"I must praise the efforts of our troops here," Mohammed said. "They gave very good assistance and coverage to the enumerators during the exercise." Mohammed said he was in company of NPC's commissioner for the state, Chief John Kum on supervision of the exercise in Bakassi. He said everybody in Bakassi, whether Nigerian or not, was enumerated, "provided he resides in Bakassiland."
The indigenes, though, have a different opinion about the success or otherwise of the headcount. "It's not true that a lot of people were counted," Atim Inyang told Saturday Vanguard. "I waited throughout and saw nobody in my home. It was the same complaint by many of our people here (Atabong)."
Ubong Umoh corroborates. "Yes, we're happy that they (enumerators) came but not many people were counted."
But what matters to the Bakassi people more than anything else is that their villages should not be handed over to Cameroon under any guise. They spoke against the backdrop of the speculation that the census notwithstanding, Nigeria would still be prepared to cede the disputed peninsula to her neighbouring country.
"Census or not, we don't want Nigeria to hand us over to Cameroon," Edet Okon, a Bakassi fisherman from Archibong village told this reporter. "We're Nigerians; we've always said this. Few days to the census, we were told that our area would still be ceded to these people and we say no. Many of us would prefer to die than to see us become Cameroonians overnight."
From His Royal Highness, Etim Okon Edet, the paramount ruler of Bakassi Council to other fear-filled indigenes, the people plead with their home country not "to give us away as second class citizens because we have a right to live. Let the United Nations carry out a plebiscite so that we can state where we want to belong to."
From other states, sundry complaints and curses have continued to trail the nationwide 2006 housing and population census, especially from those who were not counted. From the Atlantic fringe of Brass in the Bayelsa East senatorial district to the western flank of Ekeremor in the West and the Central zone, it was an avalanche of dashed hopes and frustration. In virtually all the eight local government areas of the state there were serious complaints of scarcity of materials and other logistic problems that robbed the people of being counted.
It was reliably gathered that the commission provided only two boats for Bayelsa, which is largely a riverine state. A cross section of field officers deployed to the different areas of Bayelsa State by the National Population Commission (NPC) told Saturday Vanguard that they had inadequate forms, and other materials to work with, adding that the census problems were further compounded by the fact that the NPC never paid attention to the payment of their allowances.
More worrisome to the people was the fact that in spite of the two-day stay-at-home order by the Federal Government to enable Nigerians to be counted, the enumerators were not forthcoming in most of the areas visited ostensibly because of the dearth in supply of materials. Most Bayelsans who could not be counted expressed disappointment in the exercise and called for an independent probe into the conduct of the exercise, which according to them, was a monumental disaster.
Deseye Asingbi, a resident of Amarata noted with sadness the inability of the nation to conduct a successful head count saying, "if those of us here in Yenagoa could wait endlessly to be counted in our homes without any enumerator in sight, is it those in the hinterland that could not be reached easily that would be counted? The entire exercise is a national disgrace."
Also, a member of the House of Representatives committee on population census, Chief Andrew Uchendu who was in the state to monitor the census exercise expressed displeasure over the shortage of enumeration materials and other shortcomings of the head count in the state. Uchendu who spoke to this paper after monitoring the exercise in the eight local government areas said it was a sad commentary that basic materials such as stamp pad for thumb printing, indelible ink and form NPC 01, which is the main questionnaire form, were lacking.
Said he: "From what I have seen, having gone round the Federal Government-approved eight local government areas with the state governor, I must say I am not pleased that such common materials as indelible ink, stamp pad and form NPC 01 are not available. It is not only sad, it is pathetic."
As for the people of Ewoama and Emadike, two communities that were displaced in the Bayelsa East senatorial district as a result of fratricidal conflicts, they had no chance to be counted as their devastated communities were not demarcated at the time the exercise was conducted because there were no buildings standing while the entire population then was in exile.
Most notable was the protest by the coastal people of Nembe (Bassambiri) in the Bayelsa East senatorial district. The extension by two days of the national head count did not make things better. The reporter, who was at the coastal town of Nembe observed that the exercise fell short of the expectation of the people.
The Amayanabo of Nembe (Bassambiri), His Royal Majesty, King Ralph Iwowari noted with regret that based on the 1991 projected increase in the population of the kingdom, it was their expectation that more Enumeration Areas (EAs) would be created and that the National Population Commission would have sent more materials to the area.
Condemning the entire process, the Amayanabo who spoke through the Chairman, Nembe Council of Chiefs, Chief (Capt.) D. F. O. Sokari-Olali said: "It is sad to note that the whole process was grossly marred by so many anomalies and fundamental errors which adversely affected our communities."Highlighting some of the irregularities that characterized the exercise, the royal father said most of the enumeration areas were excessively large and should have been split.
Apart from the general shortage of materials in all the EAs, the royal father lamented that there were several cases of omission/missing of some of the EAs maps that have been the historical centres of population enumeration citing Kalabileama, Butubugo, Okipiri, Akalukiri as well as other adjoining settlements of Obioku, Owukubo, Adumuuama, Agrisaba and Okoroba.
According to the Nembe council of chiefs, there was also attempted encroachment by officials from Brass local government NPC office into their domain as well as Rivers State enumerators encroaching into the eastern flank of Bayelsa inhabited by the Oluasiri people to count them as citizens of Rivers State origin.He gave the names of those communities reached as "Soku gas plant, Ofonipaingha (Obokofia), Kampala, Alama, Imokiri, Bogi village (Bush Bar), one man country, Ekulema, I (Ababugo), Ekulema II (Freetown), Onongi, Pinarakiri, Oluopogu, Belema, Robertkiri among others which are settlements largely populated by Oluasiri people of Nembe (Bassambiri) in the Nembe local government area who are the rightful owners of the territory though without prejudice to the status quo which declares it as disputed."The Secretary, Dodo River Development Regional Council, Mr. Franklin Simon and Mr. Frank Seidei for Ajititor told Saturday Vanguard that over thirty one enumeration areas with an estimated population of about 25, 000 people were left out of the just concluded exercise.
The story was not different at the Isampou federated communities where Messrs Bozimo Kurodoye and Edward Oyaotu told our correspondent that twenty-five enumeration areas were not enumerated as census officials did not come with enough materials.
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However,when contacted,the NPC federal commissioner in charge of Bayelsa sate, Dr. Samuel Anjugu exonerated the commission of any blame in the shortcomings recorded during the head count. He insisted that enough materials were sent to the state but hijacked by some desperate people bent on making their communities have an edge over others. He added that in spite of the initial hiccup experienced, the exercise was successful in the predominantly riverine state.
"The materials we circulated in Bayelsa state were enough to enumerate close to four million people in the state. Somehow, along the line, some of the materials got diverted or whatsoever. The Nigerian factor was responsible for the problem experienced. Everybody wants his community to have everything, not minding others. People were even coming to induce our field workers, so all these contributed. So, it's not correct to say materials were not supplied. We had enough materials for the state."
Elsewhere, Mr John Alaka, a lecturer in Delta State University Abraka, alleged that the excercise was politicised to the entent that some people had to cough out money before they were enumerated.He described the excercise as a failure and warned the National Population Commission (NPC) not to declare fictitious figures for Nigerians because according to him "majority of our people were not counted because the enumerators we confronted told us that they had no meterials to work with".
And from Rivers State, there were similar complaints by those who were not enumerated. Ita Etem, a banker based in Port hacourt said: "I live at Ikwere road, very close to Mile One market. We all in the compound sent three delegates to NPC office in Port Harcourt several times to come and count us. They did not show up.
"I feel cheated that I have not been enumerated. I see it as my right because I am a Nigerian. As far as I am concerned, any census figure in the country will be incomplete until I am enumerated. EFCC should probe into how the census exercise was conducted in Nigeria. I mean it. We should not allow such fraud to go unpunished."
The head count may have come and gone. What is certain is that Nigerians have not heard the last about the census.
