Car Assembly Plant Site Upsets Community

Proposed site of Car Assembly Plant in Ikot Ukap Itam community 

The people of Ikot Ukap Itam community in Itu Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State are in dilemma over the vast expanse of land the state government has acquired from the community to build a car assembly plant.

The Punch report continues:

The community, which accused government of deception, said they did not want what befell Ibaka Deep Sea Port and Industrial Estate in Mbo LGA, where it was touted that the projects had been completed, only to discover that not a stone had been laid at the projects site.

Ikot Ukap Itam community on the map

They expressed their doubts when members of Bureau for Investigative and Balanced Reportage visited the proposed site to assess the level of work there.

The Ikot Ukap Itam village head, Chief Ibok Udo-Akpan, on Saturday, lamented loss of their farmland, plantain plantation, oil palm plantation and the community’s only source of drinking water.

“Everybody in this village is now crying of hunger; our farmland and other economic crops have been destroyed. There has never been a time in this village that women stayed to buy two cups of garri for ₦100 until our farmland was taken by government this season.

“We no longer have water, and in the cause of bulldozing, our only source of water, which also produces sharp sand for building, the stream had been blocked. Now, we go to nearby community, which is many kilometres away to fetch water,” he said.

But the Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Investment, Mr. Emmanuel Enoidem, said there was no farm in the area to start with and added that government had brought equipment to the location to start work.

He said, “To start with, there was no farm in the location, it is a nonsense talk. Government has brought items for the work.”