Senator representing Cross River Southern Senatorial District, Gershom Bassey has indicated that the Senate will soon have the reading of the Bill for the establishment of a Nigerian Research Institute for Fisheries and Aqua Culture in Bakassi Local Government Area (LGA) in Cross River State.
Bassey who is Chairman of the Cross River Caucus in the National Assembly said in a statement that the proposed bill has been presented to the Senate public hearing for consideration.
He said the senate is considering the proposal to establish the school as a way of assuaging the impacts created by the loss of the 76 oil wells, as well as the ceding of the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon, thereby depriving the people of their sources of livelihood.
According to him, it would be an attempt by the Federal Government to re-establish its presence in the Bakassi LGA through education.
“This is the reason we have proposed this school of Fisheries in Bakassi LGA and it is not just for the Bakassi people but for Nigerians.
Bakassi, he said “is a place in the Atlantic Ocean and the school will create the necessary attention that Bakassi requires to educate its people.
He added that when it is established, it will be a degree-awarding higher school to address the agriculture value chain.
He said that Bakassi “is one of the most traumatized LGA in the country. Bakassi LGA has been created, recreated and recreated as a result of intervention from even as high as the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
“The story of the loss of the 76 oil wells that belonged to Bakassi and Cross River State is not a new story and this arose as a result of ceding Bakassi to Cameroon through no fault of ours”.
He noted that the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroon which is a bonafide part of Nigeria was done without a plebiscite, no consultation with the people of Bakassi that they were being given out to Cameroon.
“This is the reason there has been increased criminality because the people have no means of livelihood. The main means of livelihood of the people of Bakassi was fishing and fisheries and with the ceding of Bakassi even this means of livelihood was thrown into confusion.”
He said the school will help a great deal to calm frayed nerves.
Senate considering bill to establish Research Institute for Fisheries in Bakassi – Gershom
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