Niger Delta
Payment Of N420m Land Compensation Brews Trouble
Aggrieved families of Ekpuk Nnung Ikot Udo, Ekpuk Abak and Nnung Obio Etit under the aegis of Ibiaku Ikot Akpa Ekong Community Association (ICA), Ibiaku Ishiet in Uruan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, whose large expanse of land were taken for the construction of the Dakkada Smart Estate have expressed dissatisfaction in the disbursement of the N420million compensation paid to owners of the land.
They alleged that the Village Head of Ibiaku Ishiet, Chief William Effiong Etim; his brother, Hon. Bassey Etim, a former House of Representatives member for Uyo Federal Constituency and other family members fraudulently disbursed the largest chunk of the compensation cash in favour of themselves.
In a petition to the state government through the Commissioner for Lands and Water Resources, Pastor Umo Eno, the community demanded for immediate halt to further disbursement of the cash and urged the state government to review the list of the 5,625 beneficiaries alleged to be fraudulently doctored by the traditional ruler, by the prompting of the former lawmaker.
According to them, it was unthinkable for one person’s name to appear more than 132 times under different guise, in a total list of 5,625 beneficiaries, adding that the petitioners have already approached the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to take over the matter, their appeal to government to redress the matter failed.
The petition was signed by Chief Effiong Udo, Mr Inyang O. Injang and Mrs Iniobong Oton for Nung Iko-Udo family; Mr Emmanuel Okon,Mr Usen Okon Miss Arit Okon signed for the Abak family while Mr Effiong Idiong, Mr Eno Idiong and others signed for Ikot Obio Etit family, on behalf of the incorporated trustees of Ibiaku Ikot Akpa-ekong Community Association (ICA)
“We only received the list of the beneficiaries from Messrs Kufre Eshiet and Co, the Estate Valuer ,and to say the least, a study of the list only made our Independence Day, a very sour and depressing one, with a lot of dust in our mouths.
“We are at a complete loss as to how the immediate family of Chief William Etim, came to be entitled to nearly one half of the total land mass under consideration. Even a cursory look at the list will reveal the stark nakedness of the perverse and fraudulent claims of Chief William Effiong Etim, whose name appeared 106 times and Hon Bassey Effiong Etim, whose name appears 132 times and Placid John Etim, 48 times.
“The most astonishing part of it is that these identified individuals and their Ekpuk( family) do not have any substantial land in the area for which compensation is paid.
“We are appealing to you as an anointed servant of God to use your good offices to stop the attempted heist by the aforementioned individuals and their mentors. In the interest of Justice, peace and harmony among the law abiding people and community of Ibiaku Issiet.
“We appeal for the immediate stoppage of the disbursement while you review the evil list with a view to sanitizing it before payment can be recommenced”, the petition reads in part.
However, the former House of Representatives member,Mr. Bassey Etim, who spoke to newsmen on the matter, explained that “the money for compensation was not meant to be disbursed pro- rata, for the the family who actually own land in the area under consideration”, adding that he has alerted his lawyer to sue the state government because he has not received a dime yet.
“When governments send compensation, it does not just sent money for people to go and share to everyone in the village. It is paid according to what you have on the land. I have a very large expanse of land which government has not paid me, that is why personally I have not collected a dime from the money.
“When you talk about family, lands belong to family. That is why if you look at the place, you will not see the name of my father because before he died, he shared his property to his children. You will not even see the name of my mother because whatever she had, she had shared with the children before her death.
“So, the issue of paying compensation to community families is completely nonsense. Land belongs to family and money was not sent to the village to be shared, people believe that compensation is to start sharing money to people. Go and find out. there is a schedule of payment, if a name appear 100 times, is it not based on the plot of land that the person has? Money was not sent to be shared pro-rata, it was sent to people who had property”, he explained.
Dufugha, however, expressed resentment over what he described as stringent measures against assessing the State’s Students Loan Scheme, especially for the common citizens.
He made the observations while briefing journalists at the Earliest Ikoli Press Centre, Ekeki, in Yenagoa, the State capital.
“I commend the Governor for the relative peace in the state owing to his approach to the security of lives and properties in the State.
“For now, the police in Bayelsa State is using drones to monitor red flag areas that can cause security breaches and that has really encouraged the peace in the State.
“The security situation has improved and we commend the government for that. We cannot deny the fact that there is relative peace in the State”, he said.
On the State’s students loan, the publisher accused the scheme of having elitist posture due to its accessibility process.
He argued that it would be difficult for the ordinary Bayelsan to provide a Level-17 civil servant as guarantor to be able to benefit from the scheme, describing it as a systemic denial of the less privileged.
He noted that the loan was supposed to be a succour to indigent Bayelsa parents and students who could not assess education easily, noting that such persons should not be made to face cumbersome situations before assessing the financial instrument.
On road infrastructure, the Niger Delta Herald Publisher and Editor-in-chief praised the Diri’s administration on the work done on the three senatorial district roads and tasked the government to do more.
Dufugha, who described Bayelsa State as a wealthy State, asserted that the oil rich state needed to see more developmental strides comparative to its current financial status.
“Bayelsa is not a poor state in terms of public revenue. We’re an oil producing state. We receive federal allocations. We receive derivation revenue. We have access to enormous public resources.
“We receive interventions. Yet, after all these years, the ordinary citizen is still asking, what exactly are we getting for our money? Where are the industries? Where are the jobs? Where are the functional health institutions? Where is the agricultural transformation? Where is the human capital development? Where is the economic diversification?,” he argued.
He enjoined the government to redouble effort in the education and health subsectors, adding that it would pay the state a lot if there were centres for the treatment of critical health cases such as cancer and others in order to save lives and avoid capital flight.
The Publisher urged the Senator Diri-led government and the public not to misunderstand his message as hatred or personal issues with the Governor, but see it as a constitutional and professional duty to hold government accountable.
By: Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa
Deputy Governor of the State, Dr. Peter Akpe, stated this rexently when he received the Resident Anti-Corruption Commissioner of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in ernment House, Yenagoa.
charge of Bayelsa and Rivers States, during a courtesy visit to Government House, Yenagoa.
Akpe said the general perception of those in politics has always been that of corruption, but noted that the position of the Douye Diri-led Prosperity Administration is non-tolerance for corruption.
Akpe, who frowned at the habit of writing unfounded petitions against individuals and groups, said the heap of petition files from Bayelsa State at the ICPC was several times higher than that from any other state in the country.
He reminded residents that writing unjustifiable petitions to anti-graft agencies is not only a bad culture, but also attracts jail penalty, and assured the ICPC of the state government’s support to improve public enlightenment.
“Our government is a government that believes in zero tolerance for corruption; that is why we are always open to interact with you and other anti-graft agencies.
“Usually, there is this issue of negative perception of politics and politicians. But it is not true that every politician is corrupt. We have a good number of people in politics that are not corrupt, and we believe that a good percentage of them are in this government.
“The issue of petitions at the ICPC: What we observed was that the heap of files from Bayelsa were 10 times higher than the ones from even Lagos, and 15 more times than the ones from Sokoto and other states.
“That is quite disturbing. More so, most of those petitions were ion, our people should also know that such frivolous petitions can land them in jail”, he saidfrivolous.
From a personal experience, I can tell you that most of the petitions are extremely frivolous. While we will never tolerate corruption, our people should also know that such frivolous petitions can land them in jail”, he said.
Earlier in her remarks, the ICPC Resident Anti-Corruption Commissioner in charge of Rivers and Bayelsa States, Dr. Ekere Usiere, highlighted the statutory mandate of the ICPC, stressing that its mission was to carry out sensitisation on the ills of corruption in the Nigerian society.
Usiere, who expressed concern at the volume of petitions currently before the ICPC emanating from communities in Bayelsa over the management of the PIA funds, expressed the commission’s desire to partner the Bayelsa State Ministry of Information to carry out sensitisation programmes.
The ICPC Resident Anti-Corruption Commissioner was accompanied on the visit by Assistant Chief Superintendent, Mr. Evans Peters; Principal Superintendent, Mr. Emmanuel Akpor; Assistant Superintendent, Mrs. Tamaraudoubra Ebebi; and the Administrative Officer, Mr. Frank Yileaziba.
By: Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa
The Director of Administration and Human Resources, Sir Kelechi Nwelue, gave the advice during a commission-wide staff interactive session with Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and insurance companies at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
In a statement signed and issued by Seledi Thompson-Wakama
Director, Corporate Affairs, Nwelue said the programme, approved by the Managing Director of the commission, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, was organised to sensitise staff on pension schemes and provide them with the knowledge required to make informed decisions about their retirement savings.
He particularly urged newly recruited employees to acquaint themselves with the operations and responsibilities of various PFAs before choosing an administrator to manage their pension contributions.
According to him, pension contributions deducted from employees’ salaries, alongside employers’ contributions, constitute long-term savings designed to provide financial support after retirement.
He urged staff to carefully assess the information provided by the participating pension administrators and choose the option best suited to their long-term financial interests.
Nwelue stressed that employees were at liberty to select their preferred pension administrator, noting that the interactive session provided an opportunity for the various companies to explain their products, services and benefits.
Also speaking, a Director in the Directorate of Administration and Human Resources, Mr. James Fole, said the programme was aimed at deepening employees’ understanding of pension, insurance and other financial instruments that could improve their financial wellbeing during and after active service.
Fole warned that inadequate preparation for retirement could expose employees to financial hardship in their post-service years.
He said: “That is not what the Managing Director, Executive Management and the entire management want for our staff. We want to see a situation where retirees enjoy a reasonable level of comfort, knowing that the Commission has contributed to their future.”
He added that equipping employees with appropriate financial knowledge while they were still in active service remained critical to achieving a financially secure retirement.
Several pension and insurance companies participated in the interactive session.
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