In some areas of Cross River State’s Odukpani Local Government Area, there is growing concern of unrest due to purported irregularities in the compensation paid for land purchased for the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway project.
A landlords’ organisation headed by Effiong Ekpo Ekpo and the Association of Concerned Indigenes of Okoyong Community accused anonymous “strange elements” of breaking into the compensation record and making payments to non-indigenous people.
Ekpo said that hundreds of legal landowners were removed from the register and replaced with people who had no ancestral connection to Okoyong land, compromising the enumeration and compensation process for the Cross River axis of the project.
In a letter to security agencies, the group expressed concern that the development had increased tension in the impacted areas and that, if left unchecked, it could lead to public disobedience.
After the federal government acquired land for the coastal highway across portions of Akamkpa and Odukpani LGAs, compensation payments started more than two months ago.
Thirteen Okoyong villages in Odukpani—Obot Ekpo, Ekemkpon, Atan Okoyong, Kaifa, Nkita, Usung Nkita, Oboroko, Esuk Ekom I and II, and Ubambat/Inua Akpa Okoyong—are impacted by the project.
Ekpo further claimed that certain political appointees and their allies profited from the exercise with the support of weakened political and traditional institutions.
He referenced allegations that a government appointee was paid N7 million in Kaifa village and another sum in Oboroko.
In response, Cross River State’s Federal Controller of Works, Engr. Yinka Onafuye emphasised that the procedure was transparent, clarifying that aid was given to individuals without bank accounts while payments were delivered straight to confirmed beneficiaries.
Onafuye revealed that between 700 and 1,000 recipients in Akamkpa and Odukpani had received coastal highway compensations totalling approximately N1 billion thus far.
Meanwhile, the Okoyong group has called for an independent audit of the register and security intervention to avert a breakdown of law and order.
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