Bakassi Returnees Appeal For Monthly Stipends

The Bakassi returness in
Cross Rivers State have appealed to the state  government to pay their monthly upkeep allowance of N5,000 to save them from hunger and starvation.
The returness made the appeal in Calabar on Wednesday during a peaceful protest to the state ministry of social welfare and community development.
The spokesperson of the group, Mr. Duke Bassey, said  that the monthly stipend had not been paid  since 2013, adding that the non-payment had inflicted  serious pains on them.
“We were asked  to leave our ancestral homes in Abana, our fishing settlement because it has  been given  to Cameroun  and to relocate  to Obutong  in Ikang.
“The government out of its magnanimity  decided  to be  giving a monthly stipend of N5000 each  to registered  families; they also used to bring various food items  including garri, rice and beans to share to us.
“But since 2013, they have stopped giving us anything. We cannot fish there and there is nowhere to farm; so we are just left  to rot. Our  children  can no longer go to school.
“So we are appealing  to the state government  to resume the payment to avoid causalities,” he said.
The protesters later demanded for money to transport themselves back to their homes.
Addressing the returnees, the Chief Security Officer of the Ministry, Mr. Egan  Irebu, told them  that non-payment of their stipends by the state government was not deliberate as the state was facing financial meltdown.
He called on them to expect a positive responds from the government as it was new and  just settling down in office.
“You should please calm down. The government is new, barely three months in the office.
“The new government has to  be informed  and we have sent a memo which  he is currently considering, so, I plead that you should give him some time.
“I am sure that you will be paid as soon as the financial  situation of the state improves,” Irebu said.
He later gave the  returness an undisclosed amount of money to transport themselves  back to  Ikang, Bakassi Local Government Area.
The Tide source reports that following the ceding of Bakassi peninsula to  Cameroun and the signing of the Green  Tree Agreement in 2008, Nigerians living there were  asked to vacate the peninsula.
The returness are not all from Cross River as indigenes of Akwa  Ibom, Bayelsa and Ondo state are also included.