
Villages in Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State are now to form vigilante groups in a desperate bid to assist the Nigeria Police in combating the menace of violent crime that has enveloped the oil hub of the state.....CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE➤
Chairman of the Local Government, Akaniyene Tommey, who is yet to start delivering tangible dividends of democracy to the terrorised electorate, gave the order as the crime situation in the area is worsening.
The oil hub has been witnessing a surprising surge in criminal activities with kidnapping taking the upper hand. A businessman, Udeme Ekong, who owns a shopping plaza along Afaha Uqua Road was abducted and released after about two months in the kidnappers’ den.
Sources told The Southern Examiner that a ransom of N45 million Naira was paid for his freedom. Before him, a Supermarket Manager along Grace Bill Road, the banking layout in Eket town, was kidnapped and found dead somewhere in another local government area after some weeks.
The nasty situation forced Tommey to convene a meeting of stakeholders, including hotel proprietors, security agencies and landlords in the troubled area.
While calling on the Police in the area to double their efforts in crime prevention, the council chief during the meeting also gave a marching order to hotel owners to ensure that every guest is properly documented.
According to him, “most of the criminals come Into Eket and lodge in hotels while monitoring their targetts. You must ensure that every guest is documented with their national verification card number collected.”
While equally appealing to landlords to profile all their tenants and report any suspicious characters to the law enforcement agencies, he adds, “landlords and hotel operators “Security is everybody’s concern. It is a collective fight and we can’t leave it in the hands of the police alone. We must all ensure that Eket returns to its former status as the most peaceful local government area of the state.”
How Eket Became Violent Crime Haven
In the early 1970s up to the late 1990s, the area transformed into a commercial hub from its hitherto rustic rural area. As a result, it became a destination for tourists and investors, primarily because of the activities of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, an American oil major.
Before the Advent of the oil industry, crime rate was low in the area. Extensive oil exploration by Mobil, ignited a massive population of job-seekers with its attendant socio-economic consequences. The emerging oil city became an international gateway of the state with hundreds of expatriates working and walking freely without any fear of untoward incidents.
Life was good. Night life was ecstatically beautiful and the city witnessed an economic boom. Crime rate was almost absent, except during the emergence of militancy in the creeks of Bayelsa State which spilled over to Eket. Mba is advancing the need for every home and business premises to install CCTV cameras as a preventive measure against criminals, pointing out, “once a criminal knows that there’s a CCTV in your business premises, he will not make any attempt.”
Unarguably, crime is directly affecting the lives of tens of thousands of people and imposing large social costs. Since there is a delicate interplay between economic activity and crime, determining causal effects has not been easy.
Except the villages rise up quickly with their local arrangement in synergy with the police, the trend will continue. But, the Tommey administration needs to wake up and be alive to its responsibility. A sustained economic activity by the local government will reduce the rampant crime rocking Eket.
Logically too, less crime in the oil city will, in turn, boost economic activity. Another factor, such as the strength of rule of law, will also affect both.
Crime and violence have long been a serious matter of concern for households across the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s environmentally despoiled oil and gas region.
Waiting for Governor Eno’s Promises
However, last July, In his determined efforts to reinvigorate economic activities and provide a conducive environment for traders to engage in their business ventures, Governor Umo Eno embarked on inspection of the International Market project at Eket.
Speaking during an inspection to the market, Eno, who reassured on his commitments, said this underscores his campaign promise of putting to use projects executed by his predecessors, and acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic halted the project in its advanced stage of execution, saying that the project cannot be left to decay as it must be completed and put to use to enable the state government rid the street of traders and bring out the beauty of the metropolis.
The governor promised to meet with the relevant parties in the project including the investors, the local government and the state Justice Ministry, Foreign Direct Investment Bureau, for modalities to get the project completed, adding that the government will make sure its resources are judiciously spent.
The abundant rivers, creeks and streams and the lush vegetation provide an enabling environment for crop, fish and animal farming. For instance, cassava, various species of yams and cocoyams, vegetables, plantains, bananas, tilapia and snail farming are common.
Interestingly, the traditional occupations of the Eket people are subsistence farming, hunting, fishing and trading. Disturbingly, over-farming and poor farming practices have the effect of depleting soil nutrients on many farms and plots.
Between 1928 and 1941, Prince Peter Eket Inyang Udoh who lived in the UK and USA for 17 years, tried to garner support from local farmers in Ibibio and Annang areas, including Eket to export palm produce to the US, working under the aegis of the Ibibio Trading Corporation which he set up. His subsequent efforts to revive the venture after the war also failed. An oil mill was established at Ikot Abia in Okon, Eket but it also went into disuse during the civil war. In 1961, the Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation (ENDC) established two oil palm plantations in Eket – one at Esit Urua and another at Etebi (now in Esit Eket) as part of its agricultural and rural development policies.
By 1963 total acreage acquired was 8,965 acres while area planted was 85 acres. These plantations were abandoned during the Nigerian Civil War. However, while the Etebi oil plantation has now been reactivated by the Akwa Ibom government, the oil palm plantation at Esit Urua (Inwang Abidiba) has not.
With the creation of states on May 27, 1967, and the commencement of Mobil operations between 1969 and 1970 which resulted in an increased population in Eket, a lot of people were engaged in construction and service industries, like catering and hotels management, transportation, telecommunications, merchandising (supermarkets), teaching, civil service, the professions, among others.
When Mobil Producing Nigeria started its operations in the defunct South Eastern State soon after the civil war, the location of Eket gave the town the advantage of being the hub of Mobil Producing Nigeria operations.
Consequently, several companies providing services to Mobil were established in Eket. The Mobil Airstrip, Management Housing Estate/Mobil Guest House, Mobil Pegasus School and Mobil Technical Training Centre are located in Eket while the Qua Iboe Terminal is located at Ibeno, about 15 minutes from Eket by road. Qua River Hotels was also established by the state government though it has been closed down.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, there were the Seastate Seafoods Ltd, Qua Steel Products Ltd and Dr Pepper Bottling Company, all of which closed down. These business undertakings helped greatly to expand the economy of Eket. A private oil refinery, Amakpe International Refinery, was to be sited on the outskirts of the city along the Oron Road but it is yet to materialise.
Eket has a stadium as well as other infrastructure of importance, a network of tarred roads including the East-West Highway which passes through the town, Eket-Etinan Road, Eket-QIT Road, Eket-Jamestown Road, a telecommunications exchange, a public power transmission network, public waterworks, public and private motor parks, two urban markets (Urua Nka and Fionetok market), an abattoir, etc. It also has several eateries, supermarkets, hotels and businesses.
Many of the internal roads and drainage systems in the town were constructed or rehabilitated by Mobil Producing Nigeria under its Community Development program.
But, with the advent of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) the company was compelled by law to contribute to the funding of the interventionist agency thereby curtailing its community development efforts.
The state government has embarked on a major drainage project along Atabong Road and is in the process of upgrading infrastructure in the town with the rehabilitation of major roads including Atabong Road, Eket-QIT Road, Idua Road, etc., the rehabilitation of the Stadium and Urua Nka, and the construction of housing estates.
In a way, Eket is a cosmopolitan town with several gated estates, including Usua Amanam Estate, Ikot Ibiok; Esa Akpan Estate, Atabong; Uwa Estate, Ikot Ibiok and Stevegrad Estate, RCC Road. There is a Federal Low-Cost Housing Estate at Mkpok and State Low-Cost Housing Estates at Ikot Udoma and Okon.
The banking business thrives in Eket due to the increased economic activities in the town. First Bank, UBA, Union Bank, FCMB, Ecobank, Fidelity Bank, etc. operate in Eket. There are three main markets in the town, Urua Nka, Fiongetok Market and Udoinyang Market.
In recent times, a thriving foodstuff market has been established along Marina Road where agricultural products from the Northern part of the country are sold. There is also a standard abattoir at Ikot Ebok village. Eket also has a Motherless Babies home at Idong Iniang, Eket.
In spite of all these, in the 1990s, western environmentalists were concerned over the activities of oil exploitation in and around Eket, such as Shell and Mobil. Eket is the thriving hub of a new oil and gas business, with more than 250 companies providing support services such as catering, flights, and exports. However, this success has caused problems, especially a reluctance by local young men to engage in traditional work such as fishing and farming.
There are vocal local campaigns to increase the percentage of oil revenue that is given to the local community.
have to report every suspicious movement to the police.
CP Azare
A crime expert and Senior Lecturer of Criminology/Security Studies at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Awka, the capital of Anambra State, Dr Chike Mba, says “the craze for materialism nowadays and total decay in moral behavior of Nigerians is the major reason for the surge in criminal activities witnessed all over the country.”
Eno welcoming CP Azare
Due to many factors which included the poor organisational structure of the venture, suspicion by the British and American authorities, unrealistic targets set by the venturer and his American partners, adverse economic and political conditions in the period leading to World War II, the venture failed and Peter Eket Inyang Udoh was unfairly labeled a fraudster.
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