Financial crisis rocks Idabato council

-Workers go without salaries for six months running

From DarelNgwa just back from Bakassi

Working in Idabatou council in the Bakassi peninsula is becoming a nightmare as workers of the council have gone for over six months without their salaries, The Median has learnt.  During a recent visit to Bakassi to ascertain the level of implementation of the Green Tree Accord signed in 2008 between Cameroon and Nigeria at the behest of the United Nation, we were surprised to discover that workers of the Idabato council had gone without their salaries for six months running. One of the workers who confided to this reporter on condition of anonymity said the situation is made worse because all their complaints are falling on deaf ears. The worker because of the salary drought they are unable to pay school fees and even feed their families. “I fear I may leave the Job and join my family before I die here,” the dejected worker said.

                Meanwhile, the much talked about permanent structure for the Idabato council is yet to see the light of day. Difficult access to most of the creeks that make up the Idabatou, apart from the refusal by the population to accept the FCFA as legal tender poses a major headache for Cameroonians living or wanting to do business in the area.

                The predominantly Ibibio population from Oron in neighboring Nigeria are yet to start paying taxes to the local council, we were told. The situation is made worse by the fact that the municipal treasurer and secretary general of the council are not in talking terms with the mayor because of the latter’s high handedness and selfishness.

                Presenting a plethora of problem facing the municipality, the mayor Ntimi Oliver Akan said the oil companies exploiting oil in the area do not pay any royalties to the local population this despite the washing away of aquatic life due to the wanton oil exploitation. 

                “In 1974 Idabatou had a surface area of 4Km wide and 36Km long, but today the land mass has reduced to barely half of this due to the activities of oil companies,” Mayor Akan lamented.

                Akan said the only source of funding for the council is subventions from the Councils Support Fund, FEICOM. Thus due to lack of funds the council cannot provide portable drinking water, electricity, markets, toilets and other welfare facilities for the population.

                With a predominantly Nigerian population counting over 50 thousand inhabitants, with three quarters of them fishermen and traders, the Nigerian Naira has remained the legal tender in IdabatouBakassi.

                Worthy to note that Idabato is bounded in the North by Isangele and KomboAbedimo, in the East by Bamusso and KomboItindi, and in the west by Nigeria and south by the Atlantic Ocean.