Joseph Odok|25 April 2016|7:59am
Nothing baffles me than the policies of Governor Ben Ayade. The plan for a bill to stop the use of wood for roofing of houses appears to me very laughable. Cross River State remains a poor state and it's citizenry are poor with no government intervention to alleviate its poor people.
Its citizenry rely heavily on wood for its roofing because of its rich forest. It is on notice that the governor plans a revocation of more than 25% of its land for the construction of a super high way without any form of compensation. The people will by this policy be conscripted of their land with a high percentage of its forest destroyed. By this singular act most people will be made to lose their farmlands and be rendered jobless, many will lose their homes in the course of the construction of the super high way.
According to a memo from the Commissioner for Lands and Urban Development, Dr John Inyang, the super high way will gulp about 200 meters of land and 10 kilometres on either side of the road. The implications is that Cross River State will sacrifice 20km + 200m multiply by 260 km for the construction of the said road. By this all tress of Cross River state forest will be cleared, hence the need of an alternative source of wood for it's roofing.
It is to be recalled that Cross River State government provides nothing for it's citizenry. Its foreign students currently wail in foreign universities with the government failing to pay its tuition fee in respect of agreement reached with various universities to sponsor their education. Even those given appointment by the government have not been given employment letters nor pay rolled. Its civil servants have not been promoted for many years nor is their payroll improved or allowance due them paid. It's education system is comatose and its old owed gratuity for years.
It is a reality that most of its citizenry lack a saving to secure the building of personal houses nor is the government seen to offer soft loans to mitigate the hardship of housing. The governor's bid to stop the people from using their rich forest for roofing only to convert their wood to his commercial greed is the worst expression of greed and insensitivity. All meaning people of Cross River State must rise to condemn this rape of the people's right and oppose the planned bill that stands to rape the people of their rights without alternative palliatives to mitigate their hardship or compensate them.
Come to think of it, the use of steel and iron for roofing is more expensive than the alternative of wood. We must all rise to condemn this cabalistic fight against the people. We must not all die to service the governor's primitive spirit of wealth accusation. We must rise against the push of the governor to impoverish us and make us slaves in our own land.
Joseph Odok
Is a University Don & Social Media Change Agent
