By Magnus Aluma
The Ebonyi State Government is currently profiling about 1, 200 people who have been evacuated from Ilaje Otumara and Baba Ijora areas of Lagos State, to work out modalities for providing them succour.
The State Commissioner for Special Duties/State Diaspora, Mr Valentine Okike-Uzor disclosed this in an interaction with newsmen in Abakaliki , the Ebonyi State capital. Mr. Okike-Uzor hinted that the state government had on Monday, ordered that Ebonyi Citizens who were affected by the Ilaje demolition in Lagos be brought home, for possible provision of succour.
“Officially, we were informed on Monday, by the government of Ebonyi State under the leadership of our able Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru ordered that we should go to Lagos and bring them back and that is exactly what I did,” the Commissioner explained.
The commissioner described as an eye sore, the condition of the Ebonyi people, who were displaced in the aftermath of the Ilaje disaster adding that the state government has started the profiling of their data, with a view to looking into their plights.
He said, “when we reached there, It was an eyesore seeing small children below three or four years living in an open place under the bridge. If you see the clips, you will know that these people are going through a kind of hardship. It was on that basis that the governor said that he will not allow his people to suffer. Resources were made available to bring them back. The situation was very bad.”
Mr. Okike-Uzor disclosed that no fewer than eight hundred Ebonyi people who were victims of the demolition, were brought home, following the prompt intervention of the state government.
“I can tell you authoritatively that for those of them that want to come back, all of them have come home. There were some people who do not want to come back home and you cannot force an adult to come back home. I just had a live broadcast with Ebonyi Broadcasting Corporation (EBBC), concerning that. The number is in the neighborhood of one thousand, two hundred. But that was the population I met on ground not the number of Ebonyi people that came back home. We are still profiling them. The data we are still compiling to be sure that those of them that came back, that government will assist in due time are Ebonyi,” he explained.
The commissioner further noted that about one thousand two hundred people, cutting across different parts of the country were affected by the demolition, pointing out that only the government of Ebonyi State, has taken a proactive measure towards ameliorating the plights of its citizens.
I want be very sure, it will not be anything less than eight hundred. But the people I met on ground both people that come and did not come is in the neighbourhood of one thousand, two hundred.
“The demolition did not affect only Ebonyi people. people from other states were also there. But I can tell you that It was only Ebonyi State Government that took that proactive measure to bring them back home. I can understand what the governor is trying to avoid. He is a man who believes in good governance, the only way good governance can be entrenched in the heart of men is only when the provision of the constitution as enshrined in chapter four is obeyed to the latter which is the primary purpose of government is the security and welfare of the people,” he noted.
Okike-Uzor informed that the state government is committed towards putting smile on the faces of the displaced people, pointing out that their welfare is currently top in its priority list.
‘The government that asked me to bring them back will eventually do something. Any action taken is on the prerogative of the governor, I do not have the capacity to say. I am sure that the governor in his usual way must do something for his people. He cannot bring them back to suffer. That is the reason why we are trying to profile them because at a time, people were bringing their goods from different locations not from Ilaje precisely because they saw the opportunity to bring back their property back home,” the commissioner stated.
