Lamentations from Bakassi refugees’ camp

JOSEPH KINGSTON, CALABAR
It is no longer news that nearly two years now, more than 1,500 displaced Bakassi natives – men, women and children are still sheltered in a temporary refugees’ camp at St Mark Primary School, Akwa Ikot Eyo Edem in Akpabuyo Local Government Area of Cross River state.
This batch is made up of primarily those whose village, Efut Obot Ikot in Bakassi, was sacked in March 2013 after an onslaught by Cameroon military. Eleven Nigerians were reportedly killed during the attack.
As at the time of this report, no fewer than two infants were confirmed dead while some elderly men and women who were struck with various degrees of ailments were at the mercy of fate.
Speaking in an emotion laded voice; the leader of the camp, Mr Etim Okon Ene said “we escaped to this place to save our lives and that of our families, but death has been visiting us. Since we came here, we have no good medical attention. With the help of the Almighty God who knows our plight, our pregnant women miraculously gave birth here in the camp to 52 babies without medical care.
“It was only once that government sent us ambulance to convey one of our women, who was at the point of death, to St Joseph Hospital, Ikot Ene, here in Akpabuyo.
Ene commended the Cross River State government for taking upon their shoulders the burden of caring for hundreds of people in the camp through provisions of foodstuff, bedding and toiletries.
He said the State government had given them hope for survival until recently when every form of supplies was stopped without any explainable reason.
Speaking further about their welfare, Ene explained: “we used to get relief materials like garri, beans, rice, geisha (tin fish) from the State government. Geisha has been our main soup here, but since September, the materials are not forthcoming.
“As we speak, we don’t have food, our kids are starving, and we have no light, no medical care nor any thing that makes life meaningful.
“Our women are suffering; our children do not go to school. We depend on native treatment to cure most of our sicknesses since we do not have money to go for medical care.
“As you can see, five of those women (pointing to a group of women aged between 55 to 70 years, each sleeping on ten-spring-bed mattresses provided by the authorities and spread evenly on the cold floor of the school hall) are suffering from hernia which can be operated, but there is nobody to help out. Two of our children died last week partly because of the inhuman conditions we find ourselves.”
 Ene, who attributed the root cause of the incessant health problems to starvation, said “most times, children would just collapse after days of starvation,” and gave names of two of the said dead children as Emem Michael and Blessing Etim, who he said were aged six year and three months respectively.
His words: “Early this morning, at about 2.30 am, a big python crawled into one of the classrooms used by some of our older women. If not for God’s intervention, it would have killed at least one of the older women because all of them were fast asleep.”
 “At times, some of our young men do contemplate suicide, but I have always convinced them that it is better to live and fight it out than dying. Let everyman with milk of human kindness come to our help. The future of our posterity is now in danger of complete extermination”, he had lamented.
He appealed to the Federal Government and the United Nations to effectively collaborate to resettle them at their preferred location-Dayspring Island- because of its contiguity to the sea to aid their fishing profession.
“Federal government should give us hope to survive. They should empower us; we do not want to be perpetually dependent on government’s goodwill. Today, for us to survive in the camp, our people virtually beg for food from our host villagers, and some time, we engage in menial jobs so as to have at least what to eat.
“We even wrote to National Emergency Management Authority, NEMA, and National Commission for Refugees, but they have neither replied us nor come to see what we are passing through.
“We have been transformed into beggars. We have been suffering since 2008. The federal government should take the development of Dayspring as a priority. They can develop that place for us if there is a will. Our people have been traumatized and dehumanized. Our youths are languishing in hopelessness with their generation gradually fainting into oblivion.
Newswatch Times reporter observed that many old women, whose old age and health challenges seem precipitated by either their dehumanized conditions or the unfriendly cold weather, were seen in a fit of intermittent cough, while many other had breathing problems. They did not know how and where medical help would come from.
All the displaced people – both young and old, who were scattered between camp one and two, wore sad faces of hunger, helplessness and deprivation.
While in the camp, half-naked young children narrated different tales of woes and hopelessness.  
 “Our governments in Calabar and Abuja should find a lasting solution to our problems. We cannot remain in the camp like this perpetually. If developing a place of our own in Dayspring is taking time, they could discuss with the people of this community to allow us stay among them in a better condition pending when Dayspring shall be ready.”
The Director-General of Cross River State Emergency Management Authority, SEMA, Mr Vincent Aquah, said the state government had been very committed to those displaced from their former abode in the Bakassi Peninsula and resettled in camps in Akpabuyo.

“We  have ensured that these Nigerians, these Cross Riverians are properly taken care of in the area of food, shelter, health, security and all that the need to  keep fit, awaiting when the Federal Government will properly relocate them to better environment.

 “We cannot say how long they will stay in these camps, but the state and the federal government and the United Nations are collaborating. Dayspring Island 1, 2 and 3 have been identified for permanent resettlement of displaced persons,” Aquah revealed.