Ayade inaugurates upscale housing estate for Bakassi IDPs

Our ReporterCross River State Governor Ben Ayade at the weekend handed over an ultra-modern housing estate to displaced Bakassi indigenes.The Bakasi residents became internally displaced persons (IDPs) following the ceding of the oil-rich peninsula to Cameroon in 2002.The housing estate, which is situated at Ifiang Ayong, comprises fully furnished two-bedroom housing units. The IDPs had, for nearly two decades, been living in squalor at a primary school in Akpabuyo Local Government Area of the state.Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, a prominent Bakassi indigene, who has been championing the cause of the displaced persons, wept as Governor Ayade, assisted by the Obong of Calabar, His Eminence Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi Otu V, handed over the keys to the buildings to the ecstatic beneficiaries.Some of the beneficiaries, mostly looking frail, also shed tears of joy as the keys were handed over to them.There were emotional scenes when a key to one of the houses was given to one of the oldest IDPs, who is also a widow.Read Also:Ayades crocodile tearsShe could not contain her joy as Ayade shared a meal with her in her new house, besides donating N500,000 to her.Ayade expressed delight at the completion of the housing scheme and its subsequent delivery to the IDPs.The governor said their suffering had always tugged at his heart.My first tear for the people of Bakassi was when I was a senator on the floor of the National Assembly, which prompted me to push for a Bill for the establishment of social housing and the making provision of housing a right, he said.Expressing delight at the realisation of the housing project, the governor said he felt a sense of fulfilment to see my sons, my aunties, my mothers and fathers, who lived in clustered accommodation in a primary school with mosquitoes feasting on them, now moving into their new homes.Today, by the grace of God, by the instrumentality of the holy ghost, we are here gathered to celebrate the plethora of opportunities where people will be living in a world class estate, he added.
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