COMPPART Foundation urges Gov Eno to give legal status to omitted villages in Akwa Ibom

• Gov Eno & Mr Saviour Akpan 

…commends him for uplifting the poor

By Benjamin Jimmy

Human rights organisation, COMPPART Foundation for Justice and Peace building, has urged the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno to give legal status to villages that were omitted during the last recognition and gazetting exercise carried out by the former administration of Mr. Udom Emmanuel.

The organisation has also commended the governor for uplifting the standard of living of the poor, particularly through his Compassionate Home Initiative and Free Food Distribution Programme, among other laudable arrangements for the vulnerable in the state.

In a letter to the governor, which was copied to the media and signed by the organisation’s Executive Director, Saviour Akpan, the human rights group said emerging challenges threatening peace and development in some communities in the state had made it necessary for the omitted villages and their heads to gain recognition in order for them to have legitimacy to promote peace and development within their domains.

The organisation explained that giving village heads legal status would place on them, burden of more responsible leadership and accountability to their people and the state government, as well as placing them in a vantage position to domesticate government’s programmes, while working for the protection of infrastructure in the communities.

Listing some of the omitted villages, which include; Nnung Obio Ibiet 1 in Oruk Anam LGA, Ikot Inyangerong in Ika LGA, Ikot Etok Uko, Adiasim Clan in Essien Udim, and Edem Udim, Itoro Clan in Abak, it said legal status would also give the villages and their heads a sense of belonging in the Akwa Ibom project, as encapsulated in the ARISE Agenda of Pastor Umo Eno-led administration.

” We appeal to you, Your Excellency, to look into the villages that were omitted in the last gazetting exercise in the state, and perhaps have them given legal status. Most of those communities have village heads that have been playing significant role in building bridges of peace, justice and development in their domains. Therefore, recognising them will certainly place on the villages and their heads moral burden of being more responsible and accountable to their people, as well as work for the promotion of peace as a necessary ingredient for rural-driven development of your administration.

” Villages like Nnung Obio Ibiet 1, Oruk Anam LGA, Ikot Inyangerong in Ika LGA, Ikot Etok Uko, Adiasim Clan, Essien Udim LGA, and Edem Udim, Otoro Abak in Abak LGA are a few of the villages whose heads have shown responsible leadership. If they are recognsed by way of being given legal status, they will certainly do more to justify it”.

Commending the governor, the organisation noted with satisfaction, the many gains of the Compassionate Home Initiative, Free Food Distribution Programme and other human- centric developments of Pastor Eno which are currently addressing the needs of the poor in the state, maintaining that these programmes had uplifted their standards of livelihood.

The human rights organisation particularly pointed out the building and donation of houses to the vulnerable as one huge lofty programme that had catered for many lives that would have been shattered and left groaning in sorrows and hopelessness.

” We commend you, our amiable governor, for your towering achievements in the state, especially in uplifting the standards of lives of the poor in the communities.

” Of particular importance to us and perhaps other Akwa Ibom people in the civil space is your indelible imprints in the lives of the people through your Compassionate Home Programme which has sheltered many vulnerable people, and the Free Food Distribution Initiative, giving sucour to countless of the poor in the state”.

While believing that Governor Eno would continue to touch the lives of the vulnerable, the organisation expressed confidence he would soon recognise those villages and their heads to ensure they contribute more to the progress, peace and stability of the state.