Crisis Deepens as More Communities Join Protest against Privatization of Cocoa Estates in C’River

As Cross River State Government plans to Privatize Cocoa Estates in the State, more Communities especially Etung local government area in the Central part of the State have joined in the peaceful protest against government planned action which started Tuesday in Etomi CommunityOn Wednesday, the protest escalated to other communities in that local government area as they have also join in the protest to register their displeasure against the State government planned Privatization of Cocoa Estates in the stateThe people of Abia and Bendeghe Communities both women and their male counterpart took to the streets with placards to demonstrate their unacceptance of the planned Privatization moves by the State governmentAccording to the Chairman of Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN) Abia unit, Egbuta Amba who appealed to government not to Privatize the Cocoa Estates as that is the only thing they have”We don’t want government to Privatize our Cocoa Estates as that is the only thing we have here, we don’t have accessible roads, no light, no water and no means of communication, the only thing left for us here are the Cocoa farms the sustains us here, government had abandoned using this part of the world he lamented”.

The women leader Beatrice Tawo while speaking to journalists said,”we are saying no to Privatization, because government keep promising us water, light and accessible roads, yet nothing, and now they want to take the only thing we have here that is sustaining us and taking our youths out from crime” she maintained.The youth leader in Abia Community, Lawrence Ntui, who was also against Privatization said, ” we here have been marginalized because there is no government presence, we have engaged ourselves here meaningfully in our Cocoa farms, we won’t accept Privatization, he maintained”.It is also gathered that more than 70% of Cocoa Estates in the State are domiciled in the Central part of the State, mostly Etung, Ikom, and Boki local government areas, and more worrisome, three of the five Estates to be Privatized are all in Etung local government who will be most affected if government carries on its plan action.Recall that on the 25 June, Cross River State Privatization Council came up with an advertorial in the state own Newspaper, Nigerian Chronicle calling for tender from interested investors that wants to invest in the State own Cocoa Estates.