The Commissioner representing Cross River on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) board, Rt. Hon. Orok Duke, has begun the distribution of relief materials to flood affected communities in the state.
Speaking on Wednesday while delivering hundreds of relief materials to the Ikot Offiong people of Odukpani local government area and Esierebom community in Calabar South local government respectively, Hon. Orok Duke stated that the exercise was an interim intervention to ease the stress of the people.
“We are targeting few communities that are really stressed. It is the beginning of more things to come. I am saying this strictly because at NDDC now we are more open. We are going to move to Obanliku and Ogoja where we heard there’s an invasion by the Ambazonians from Cameroon. We have refugees there.
“We want to established certain areas that we cannot overlook again, and Ikot Offiong community is going to be one of them. This is 24 years without the Ikot Offiong people being settled. We intend to add value to what this present government is doing, and I can reveal here that Ikot Offiong issue is one of those pressing issues.
“On our own part at NDDC we are going to insist that all those parts that have been neglected and are still suffering, including the people of Ikot Offiong, will be taken care of. To a large extent, this problem with be taken care of by this government and also with us supporting,” Duke said.
The Commissioner who was moved by the plight of the people, personally donated the sum of N500,000 to them, promising that he would do more.
Receiving the items on behalf of the Ikot Offiong community, His Excellency Etubom Eyoma Nya Asuquo, thanked the NDDC and the Commissioner for the gesture.
Nya Asuquo revealed that they had been neglected by previous administrations, even as the people were suffering. He stated that governor Bassey Otu had promised them during the campaigns that their problem would be a thing of the past.
“We have indeed started noticing that it would soon be a thing of the past. The last person who gave us this type of relief materials here was the governor’s wife herself. She was touched by the plight of the Ikot Offiong people. We are so happy that you too have remembered us. God will bless you,” he said.
On her part, the women leader of Ikot Offiong, Mrs Atim Effiong Okon, expressed gratitude to Hon. Orok Duke and prayed for God’s blessings upon him and the NDDC.
