The anniversary of a land grab

NGO RRDC show shocked community members the true extent of displacement

On January 22nd 2016 the Governor Ayade administration of Cross River State in the Chronicle publication revoked rights of ownership of one quarter of the States land mass for a proposed “super highway”. A land mass 5 times the size of London seized for one road. Here is a map with SOME names of communities, towns, villages swallowed by the Cross River 400 m wide highway and its massive 20km offset.

After an outcry from environmentalists the Federal Ministry of Environment put a halt to the project pending an environmental impact assessment of a project which passes through much Nigeria’s last protected forests and over 180 communities. The Governor has been vocal about continuing with the project despite its controversy and the States heavy debt profile.
One year later the absurdity of the 20.4km width and the enormous loss of property and land stands unchanged. Many have no clue the road is gulping an additional 10 km on either side for a so-called “buffer zone” which aides have explained will be used to “build new cities” not reflected in any budgets.
Stories abound of unprecedented logging, documented destruction of farms and possible placement of “MOU” banana, sugar cane ethanol and other plantations owned by foreign investors on this seized land.
Here is a breakdown of the map starting from Bakkasi that shows in detail names of communities affected. This is clearly inconclusive but it serves as a guide. Note if your community name falls anywhere within the pink zone your land and property is no longer yours. If it is on the line then it falls within the 400 m for the actual road. You can neither sell, develop, take any loans or use it as equity for any business. It ceased to be yours 6 weeks after the land was revoked on 22nd January 2016.

Enjoy the silence and happy anniversary! Pamela Braide

Special thanks to NGOCE for providing the map. They have a huge one hanging in the office.

Section 1.

The map from which above excerpts were derived 

Map from NGO's with vegetation

Cross River Government notice. Jan 22nd 2016

Cross River Government notice Jan 22nd 2016

List of communities  affected  by cross river super highway extracted from map
by no means complete

List of communities  affected  by cross river super highway extracted from map
by no means complete

Videos

Amenism vs Doism we can do both

Online you see photos of BMW’s with instructions to type AMEN below it. I wish getting things done was that easy.

This is not an AMEN piece. It is a guide for Cross Riverians, and by that I mean residents and indigenes of the State at home and away who wonder if their land has been confiscated under the auspices of a super highway for which the Cross River State Government has revoked, on January 22nd 2016, one quarter of all the land in the state. Yes you read me right. One quarter. For a 12 lane “super highway” that ends in a rickety 2 lane road in Benue State. Width revoked 400m plus 10km on either side equals 20.4km. And this spans 260km so yes it IS a quarter of the land in Cross River State.

In 2015 Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade announced that he would focus on ambitious out of the box projects. A multi-lane super highway starting at a yet to be built deep sea port with internet access would be built at no cost to the state and end up in Benue State. People naturally rejoiced.

After bulldozers cleared (before their January 22 notice!) the highway was halted by the Fed Ministry of Environment to secure an EIA(environmental impact assessment).

Notes

1. A revocation notice is not “just a notice” as I have heard government aides explain. You will not lose your land, you have lost it. Read the notice.

2. Very few people along the path know they are have gone from landlord to landless.

3. This highway starts at something optimistically called a “deep sea port”. How? The ceding of Bakassi to Cameroon robbed us of our littoral status and that is the singular reason Akwa Ibom snatched our oil. First determine the feasibility of the “deep sea” port for a State that lost its access to the sea.

4. Usually when a high way is being built outliers enjoy business opportunities e.g. petrol stations, restaurants, guest houses, shops. Local market days move as close to the road as is safe and legal. 10km buffer zone says no.

5. People are ambivalent about the environment. But I’ll still drop these numbers. Nigeria has 4% of primary forest left. 70% of that is in Cross River. Much of that falls within the path of this road and its 20km “buffer zone”. Cross River villages do get buried by mudslides. That’s what rushed logging does. Make of it what you will.

Am I against development? Of course not. However the unprecedented quantity of land, the inexplicable path of this road from a deep sea port without a sea and the inability of Government to compensate even people whose crops were destroyed in the initial construction is deeply worrisome. As Odigha Odigha said Cross River State is 70% agrarian, and 90% of our bloody communal clashes are land related. ANY development of this nature requires DEEP consultation and minimal foot print to avoid more confusion and not a 20.4km width.

What can you do?

Typing AMEN will not return your ancestral land title. So here are some tips.

1. Download a copy of the revocation and map notice to confirm if you are affected. Show a surveyor

2. Ask your elected officials what they are doing about this situation. They ALL know what’s going on. Force them to take a stand for their constituents.

a. Local Govt. Chair, Councillor

b. State house of assembly members(communities tried to meet them in the house to no avail)

c. National Assembly legislators — Senators and Rep members

3. Visit or write to the MDA for Lands

4. Discuss this in your holiday meeting at home. Help your community members whose farms and property have been bulldozed without compensation speak to officials. They feel frustrated and abandoned.

Last points

One road evacuating a yet to be built deep sea port does nothing for 70% of our agrarian communities who watch crops rot for lack of feeder roads. Will the crops be airlifted to the highway? Does the highway go anywhere else than rickety 2 lane road in Benue? Our Government should do massive construction of feeder roads to rural areas where crops rot for lack of good roads. Or where sick people can die bumpy bike ride on a track enroute to treatment. Fix what you have and build to serve the unserved.

ENGAGE YOUR ELECTED AND PUBLIC OFFICIALS THIS SEASON. FIND OUT IF YOU ARE HOMELESS.

Next year tell me how it went. I wish you the best. I will post pictures of my meeting with whichever Cross River elected officer I see. Let us help ourselves. AMEN!

Listen to those affected speak here and here and here and here

Pamela Braide

An abridged version of this  article appeared in the 25th of December in Cross River Watch

http://crossriverwatch.com/2016/12/amenism-vs-doism-we-can-do-both-by-pamela-braide/

Now the Climate Change Carnival is over... back to reality

Now that the Climate Change Carnival is over... back to reality

It is a new year ASK QUESTIONS and continue to ask until you get coherent answers from your leaders. They serve you. 

We want development with transparency. Development that will not cause more land conflict crisis in Cross River State Nigeria.

Happy new year and enjoy the picture.

Merry Christmas!

We wish all our readers a Merry Christmas! 

My dear Cross Riverians, do you still own your ancestral lands? By Joseph Odok

I wrote an article on the 23 of March 2016 titled “The Super High Way: An ecological warfare and implications on Cross River State Citizens, Forests, Animals and Economy” At the time it did not garner much attention and in fact many did not believe the contents.

Kache Bano Canopy Walk-A-Way built by former Governor Donald Duke, Boki LG, Cross River State, Nigeria. Once the longest in Africa before a 2012 mudslide. Some spans have been restored. 

Photo- pandrillus.org

Many months later none of the issues raised here have been resolved. Though the Cross River Super Highway has been temporarily halted by the demand from the FG for an EIA (environmental impact assessment) all indications show the project and the enormous lands seized, to the detriment of ignored decayed roads within the State, is still on the radar of the Cross River State Government.  There is still no information available on how it will be funded or how investors if any will recoup the investment.

Let us revisit the Government of Cross River revocation notice of January 22, 2016.

Notice Of Revocation Of Rights of Occupancy For Public Purpose Land Use Act 1978 issued on the 22nd day and of January 2016 and published in Cross River State Chronicle by the Government of Cross River State. The document is herein attached, see also map of forest and communities that will be razed in pursuit of the Super High Way:

(1) Notice is hereby given to all rights of occupancy existing or deemed to exist on all that piece or parcel of Land lying and situated along the Super High Way from Esighi, Bakassi LGA to Bekwara LGA of Cross River State of Nigeria covering a distance of 260km approximately and having an offset of two hundred meters (200m) on either side of the centre line of the road and further 10km on both sides of the road after the span of the super high way, excluding Government Forest reserve forest and public institutions are hereby revoked for overriding public purpose absolutely. The description of the land and the said document is attached in this article.

(2) Any person(s) claiming any interest(s) in his/her unexhausted improvement in the said land is/are required within 6(six) weeks from the day of this notice to send to the Director Lands, Lands and Urban Development, Calabar, a statement of such Rights of occupancy

(3) Such statement shall be made by the claimant(s) in person or through their agent duly authorized...

(4) Government is willing to treat for the residue of unexhausted  improvements in respect of which no statement is received are liable to be treated as non existent. A notice is hereby given that the government intends to enter and use said Land at expiration of (6) weeks from the date of this notice.

(5) Any person(s) who wilfully hinder(s) the Governor of the Cross River State or any Person employed by him from using the said land is/are liable on conviction to a fine of #50,000 only or to imprisonment for 3 (three) months

(6) A plan showing the site is available for inspection during official hours at the office of DIRECTOR OF LANDS, Lands Department, Ministry of Lands and Urban Development, Calabar

Take note that evaluation and proper process of notification, hearings and compensation processes have not been done until the time of writing this article. Many communities are unaware of their landless state. I then reinstated the implications of the Ayade's revocation on the Citizenry and revised them as follows.

If the revocation of Land affects about 260km multiplied by 20km that is, 10km by each side of the road equalling about 5,200km of land will go for the super high way. This could be translated to 25% of Cross River State Land and more than 70% of our forest. 530,000 hectares.

The proposed super highway project consumes 25% of state land
most of it for a mysterious 20km wide "buffer zone"

1. A large percentage of Cross River State people HAVE lost their land without any compensation.

2. Many may lose access to their farmlands including plantations thereby becoming unemployed

3. We will lose most of our endangered species. This has an impact on research, tourism, business, medical cures and ecological balance. Surely one road can be made without wiping out 70% of protected areas.

4. We will of course lose our ecological funds which some of our communities have earned from outstanding conservation practices.

5. The existing bilateral agreement and the Land Use Act with provisions for compensation and social security will be jettisoned

6. What do we owe the yet unidentified investors, we must not let Cross River State will be further plunged into debt and financial slavery. Transparency is needed!

7. How does the Governor honour its myriad MoUs on agriculture? Is the famous 10km buffer zone on both sides to site these plantations? Since no information has been given conjecture is the order of the day!

I will add a few more

9. Why is there a wall of silence from the state house of assembly and national legislators to this crisis and complaints from constituents? Why are constituents forced to seek justice from the Presidency itself as evidenced in the protest and signatures handed over on the 22^nd of September to the Minister of State for Environment for onward transmission to the President of Nigeria.

10. Cross River State farmers and land owners in over 180 communities are automatically disqualified for agric or any loans where required collateral is proof of ownership of land. It is no longer yours. 

11. Some Ayade aides say the 10km buffer zone is for “new city development” It appears the assumption that those lands are empty. Agidinpko community in Ikom falls within the 10km on either side buffer zone is not empty. Incidentally the Ikom Local Government Chairman hails from this community. Is it empty? Who will enjoy the new city? Is it in the 2017 budget?

Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State,

Imagine all the communities along the Calabar Ogoja road being pushed back 10km. No Local Govt markets, no community roadside markets, no hotels owned by locals in a 10km distance on either side of the road because Govt has seized all those lands. One of the primary gains of such a road is rendered completely useless.  

I will end with an appeal. Seek answers for your from your reps. Legally one quarter of all lands in Cross River State was seized on January 22^nd by the Government. Make sure you know where your land stands.

Joseph Odok - Joseph Odok World

Social Activist

Social Change Agent

Concerned Son of Boki

Female herbalist appeals for justice #crsuperhighway

She is an herbalist, her crops(pharmacy) were destroyed early this year without notice or compensation for #CRSuperhighway

She is one of almost a million rendered landless by the January 22nd revocation order of the Cross River State Govt. If you own lands in Akpabuyo, Bakassi, Ikom, Bekwarra, Obubra, and other LGs stretching to the boundary of Benue State. Aside from the mass revocation, before the bulldozers were halted by the FG demand for an EIA many lost crops and sole source of income and feeding to bulldozers. Not one has been compensated in these harsh times.

The herbalist further said. I cannot become a thief.

No one is against any developmental project of the state but it is only fair people are properly consulted, national standards are adhered to (where in Nigeria is 400m width designated for roads and further 10km offset on either side?) and where due, compensated to ensure development projects actually achieve the aim of development and not heartbreak and poverty.

Please visit, and write to your state house representatives, Local Govt Chairman, councilors and and Federal Legislators to find out if you still own the lands, farms and properties you think you currently own. Ask them to call a town hall meeting to clear the air. Take a copy of the revocation notice and map with you. This is not the first road that has been built in Cross River State and it wont be the last.
Lets do things properly.

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Nigerian Environment Minister Amina Mohammed now UN Deputy Sec General

Congratulations to Amina J. Mohammed, Nigeria's Minister of Environment on her appointment as the Deputy Sec-General of the United Nations. 
She will be missed!