Kaani Town Begging For Govt’s Presence

As one passes the Birabi Memorial Grammar School in Bori, headquarters of Khana Local Government Area, a road veers from the left hand-side of the road beside the High Court premises, into Kaani community.
Going to Kaani with a motorcycle is barely up to five minutes and is just 50 meters from the junction. The community is separated by a narrow bridge from Bori metropolis. It has a calm and serene outlook with few paved roads leading to the only secondary school in the community. The road terminates at Sogho, linking the East West Road, leading to Akwa Ibom State.
Apart from lack of paved roads, Kaani does not have electricity, functional health centre or potable water, and one expects that its proximity to Bori would attract modern amenities to the ancient town.
On the left hand side of the major road in the town, another path leads to an untarred road leading to Methodist Church, one of the early churches that came into Kaani, that same road leads to Kaani II. Delimitation of Kaani was for administrative convenience, according to Chief Joseph Dinee. “The missionaries did it for administrative purpose. During one of the harvest programmes, they divided the community into Kaani 1 and Kaani II, but they are one and the same people- Teyor and Gbor people.
After moving round town to get a feel of the community, the traditional ruler of Kaani, Mene Barikpoa Apere, Mene- Bua Kaani told The Tide Metro that the situation of Kaani has been a challenge over the years, “maybe if we had somebody in government, we would not be having what we are passing through now.”
He continued, “Ironically, Kaani is the largest community in Khana Local Government Area, and yet we do not have power, water and hospital.” The only secondary school in this community was built in 1978 and was through a community effort,” he added.
The traditional ruler recalled that during one of the visits of the Governor to Bori last year, during which he was honoured by Ogoni people, he promised to connect us to national grid, but that has not been fulfilled.
The quest to provide power to the community has been a long and unfruitful one, recalled Elder Clarkson Agara. “We have pursued this matter for many years. It is like biblical prayer to continue in prayers. The unfortunate aspect of it is that while our neighbour, Bori is connected to power, there is none here.”
The community leader, Clarkson Agara told The Tide Metro that there have been attempts to reach out to agencies of government as he blamed the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for failing to complete the electrification project. “We learnt that a budget and proposal was made for the project. We have contacted the commission and sent delegates and nothing has happened”.
A similar tale was stated by Pastor Gbaranor John, as he recalled that the community started pushing for power during the administration of Sir Peter Odili. “The community visited the governor, a number of times and shortly after a meeting, a survey of the area was conducted and that was the last we heard about it.”
Mene Barikpoa Apere is not happy that all these efforts have failed to yield results.
We are an agrarian community he told The Tide Metro and power is basic to most of our activities.
The traditional ruler emphasised that power is key to development and without it; it is difficult for the community to move forward.
He lamented that most of the small scale businesses are dependent on power. These include barbing saloons, hair dressing, welding and other activities that require electricity. As he reasoned that water boreholes also need to be powered to provide water.
In addition to that, he made a plea for government to complete the abandoned health centre in the community.
He added, “I want to believe that the next government would give us attention, but it is not too late for our governor to fulfill his pledge for now.”

By: Kevin Nengia