IGEDE VOICE MEET, DEVELOPMENT ISSUES TOP AGENDA

By Kadiri Abraham

January 12, 2019

Stakeholders of Igede-Edii in Yala Local Government of Cross River State, under the aegis of “Igede Voice”, a social-cultural organization that draws membership from different social strata and fields of endeavour, have had series of meeting to draw up development agenda for the marginalized entity.
The Voice has had two important meeting this new year. The last meeting was held at St. Patrick's Primary School, Anyugbe and it was attended by prominent sons and daughters of Igede Edii.

The aim of the Igede Voice, as an organization, is to mobilize the elites with progressive mindset to galvanize and articulate creative ideas towards the development of the long abandoned Igede-Edii.

Igede Edii is a rural residential, politically marginalized and materially impoverished part of Yala local government in Cross River State, comprising five (7) villages which are further subdivided into 21 settlements that border Ukele, Yala and Ekajuk people. The Igede people of Cross River State speak the Igede and Yala languages under the Idomoid language category. Their origin is traced to the Igede people of Benue State, which have a common origin with the Obudu and Bekwara tribes, through a common ancestor, the Great Agba.

In the course of history, it has been discovered that most of the politicians who vie for political positions in Yala and Cross River State do not often have clear cut negotiations, agenda or programs for the Igede-Edii people during their political campaigns and era.

What is often experienced during campaign is savored political lingo and propaganda echoed into the ears of the people, majority of whom are illiterates, and hence cannot give critical assessment of a candidate’s antecedents and achievements to be able to reach a rational conclusion.

In the light of the foregoing, the Igede Voice has identified a number of challenges bedeviling the Igede community in Yala, Cross River State and to only give their collective mandate to any political interest group or individual who is ready a strike a very beneficial deal in the forth coming election.

The group which mainly consists of young vibrant people identified about nine (9) major challenges Igede is battling with, lamenting that they have never had any politician who has taken their plight seriously and tackle them head on.

Speaking with bitterness and anger, one of the young men asked rhetorically: “Are we not part of Cross River? Don’t we vote? Are our youth not educated enough? Do we forbid appointment into key positions in the state? Why is our own case different? Are we going to sit at home during the forthcoming election?” He added, “We do not have road, no electricity, no potable water, no jobs for our teaming youth who have now resorted to going outside the state in search of greener pasture.”

The major roads linking the various communities in Igede-Edii include;
1. Ezekwe-Kampala-Anyadaha-Anyugbe Road
2. Kampala-Ibila Road
3. Opirikwu-Wanokom Road
4. Anyadaha-Ibila Road
5. Ihioku-Eminyi-Igbegi-Okpoma Road
6. Oadmagbudu-Ozenyo Road
7. Anyugbe-Igbakobor Link Road
8. Anyadaha-Igbakobor-Operiku-Wanokom Road
9. Anyugbe-Ukuo-Ogoja Road
10. Ihioku-Iboko-Anyugbe Road
11. Operiku-Oyoba-Wanikade Road
12. Ezekwe-Odamagbudu-Anyadaha Link Road

None of the aforementioned roads is motorable, especially, during rainy season. Because roads are very bad, women carry babies on their back with loads on their heads, trekking along the road; men ply the worse for wear roads – most with bicycles and few with motorcycle; and children carry heavy load of ‘akpu’ and garri to the distant markets in towns where markets are accessible. The distances from the various communities range from 8 – 25 km. Markets where they take their products for sale include Wanokom, Wanikade, Ezekwe, Ebo, Ekajuk and Yahe. 

The above is the true picture of the case of Igede. While some answers lie within the community, majority of them can only be solved by government, through political office holders.

Therefore, Igede people, through the Igede Voice, will only be ready to support politician(s) with our 

interest at heart and negotiation for concrete dividends of democracy; but not those coming to toy with the emotion of the Igede man, with empty promises in their mouth and money in their hands to steal our mandate, which can only be retrieved after four years.